Tempus Fugit, part I
by AlicexAsylum
Summary: Months after the events at Helheim, Lara Croft finally feels the effects of her traumatic and devastating experiences. As soon as she comes to terms with the reality of her newly dismal life, the former adventurer finds herself haunted by the darkest parts of her past, throwing Lara and her companions into their most dangerous journey yet- one that will change their lives forever.
1. No Place Like Home

**Months after the events at Helheim, Lara Croft finally feels the effects of her traumatic and devastating experiences. As soon as she comes to terms with the reality of her newly dismal life, the former adventurer finds herself haunted by the darkest parts of her past, throwing Lara and her companions into their most dangerous journey yet- one that will change their lives forever.**

**IMPORTANT NOTE: I am incorporating Tomb Raider 2013 into this story further on, so unfortunately if you have not played or seen the storyline there will be many spoilers. This goes for the rest of the Tomb Raider games as well.**

*Cover image by Morcegan at deviantart. Used under their permission.*

*** Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original Tomb Raider characters/names/references to franchise storylines etc. used in any area of this fan fiction, they are copyright and property of Square Enix, Eidos Interactive, Crystal Dynamics, and Core Design. I only have ownership rights over the characters and plots that I have created with the aid of my own imagination. ***

_**"Sed fugit interea fugit irreparabile tempus,  
singula dum capti circumvectamur amore."**_

..."But meanwhile it flees; time flees irretrievably,  
while we wander around, prisoners of our love of detail."

-**Publius Vergilius Maro**_****_

_**  
**_****

_**TEMPUS FUGIT**_

**No Place Like Home**

The sky was grey, casting shadows on everything that was once full of colour. The air was cold, biting unremittingly at our skin. The rain fell, pouring sorrow down on us, seeming like it would never end. It was the perfect day for the mourning of death.

The funeral was a dreary and downright unpleasant event. If it hadn't been for someone I personally cared for, I wouldn't have given a second thought to attending. But this was for my friend - he would have been disappointed if I didn't come.

But it seemed I was the only one there who wasn't in a complete state of shock and remorse. It was almost as if I weren't even there. I was just standing there, looking blankly at these people around me, these people sobbing their hearts out. Even good friends of mine stood beside me, yet I made no note of them. Too much had happened in the past two months for me to take in all at once. So much had happened that I couldn't even understand the real difference between life and death any longer. But I suppose that's what happens to people when you truly understand how it feels to lose everything you've ever loved.

"Lara? Are you okay?" I glanced up to see Zip looking at me curiously. I looked around me to notice everyone, clad in black, had already began to leave. I didn't even notice that the service had ended. I had been standing there, staring at the rain lapping into the muddy ground at my feet, thinking about so many things. My state of awareness had been completely void and almost in a trance for the past hour. Then again, it had been that way for weeks.

I mentally pushed my thoughts away. "I'm fine." I mumbled irritably to Zip without bothering to give him proper eye contact. I turned away from him and started back down the cemetery path to the parking lot without looking back.

I heard Zip come up behind me again, and he got in front of me. I stopped and let out a deep huff.

"You're in my way." I informed him in a monotonous tone. He didn't move.

"You sure you're okay?" he asked, ignoring my comment.

"Yes, for crying out loud, I'm bloody fine. Now can we leave?" I snapped. Zip remained silent, responding with only a puzzled look. I sighed. "Sorry."

He passed it off with a shrug. "It's alright." Zip said as we continued walking. "So, where'd our old rickety man go?"

I rolled my eyes, and motioned to Winston over his shoulder.

Zip glimpsed behind us and noticed the butler giving him a hard, serious look. He turned back to me with his notorious grin. "Woops."

_**-x-**_

By the time we arrived back home, the sky was pitch-black, and the rain was pounding harder and louder. Winston had already started dozing off in the back seat.  
Zip and I got out of the van, and I went to open the back door.

I grinned slightly as I observed all the electronics and computers that were still there in the space where there would normally have been another row of seats. We had them removed to accommodate for Zip's devices. Nifty little place; it was like Zip's second office. Well, if you can consider it possible to have a van as an office. Though unfortunately, the one inside the house wasn't the best either. Much better than working in the back of a van, of course, but of much shoddier quality than the spacious tech room we had at the Manor back in Surrey...the mansion I had always considered my true home. But due to the explosion, most of it was still under construction.

Luckily, my father had been clever enough to entrust me with the other two estates, in London and in Oxford, which I had never actually been to before last month. So here was my chance to finally live in Oxford for a few months. It was a tad smaller than the other two mansions, but it was the easiest to pay for at the present time. I already had enough trouble with the authorities and the money for reconstruction of the Manor.

I leaned into the backseat and softly tapped Winston on the shoulder.

"Winston, lad, wake up." I whispered to wake him up. He opened his weathered eyelids and looked at me.

"Oh...my apologies, Lady Croft...I was..." Winston tried to explain but couldn't hold back a yawn.

"It's alright. It's been a long day." I smiled, keeping my voice low and gentle. "Here, let me help." I took Winston's arm and led him out of the van.

"Thank you."

"It's no problem. Go inside and get some sleep." I ordered. He hesitated, but then nodded and headed inside. Zip stood beside, waiting for me.

"So are we goin' or are you gonna make me stay out in the rain?" he joked.

I gave out a sound that was mixed between a sigh and a relieved laugh. "Oh, Zip, I'm not _that_ terrible, am I?"

Once inside the mansion, I headed upstairs and turned left to my bedroom door. Zip remained downstairs, in his office which he also used as a bedroom.

I closed my door behind me at collapsed on the bed. I was exhausted, and on top of everything that had taken place today, I had developed a horrible headache.

I sighed and got up. I took a quick change into a silky beige tank top and shorts, and went back to my bed. I lost track of time. Perhaps it took an hour, or maybe only ten minutes, but before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.

_**-x-**_

I woke up to the sound of ringing. I opened one eye to see my PDA cell phone on the table. Then I took a glance at the clock beside it. Good lord, it was only five AM. What kind of idiot would call me at five in the morning?

But I suppose no one does ever call me often unless it's urgent, so I reluctantly grabbed the PDA and answered.

"Hello?" I asked quietly, not fully awake.

"Good morning, Ms. Croft. My apologies if I woke you up." A man's voice answered. An American voice.

"Who is this?" I questioned again. This sounded like something that wouldn't make my day any easier.

"Detective Anthony Bradford, FBI. Me and my associates have been visiting England for the past few weeks helping with a few important cases. It's a pleasure to finally hear from you, Ms. Croft."

I sighed. "Mr. Bradford, I don't mean to seem intolerant, but I'm not accustomed to being called at five in the morning, so I suggest you say what you need to say before I lose my patience." I told him demandingly. The agent paused and sighed before continuing.

"You've heard about the recent killings in London, correct?" Bradford questioned mysteriously.

"Yes...yes, I have." I answered warily. I thought for a moment. "What does this have to do with me?"

"Have no worry. You aren't wanted for any murder." Bradford laughed. But quickly he reclaimed his serious tone. "...but you were, around six years ago, if I'm not mistaken."

I was taken aback when he mentioned that last comment, my heart skipping a beat. Why in the world would he be bringing up such a thing?

"Seven, actually." I corrected him, practically holding my breath. "Why... "

"...Why do I mention it?" Bradford finished my question before I could get the words out. "I've heard many stories about you, Ms. Croft. I was told that six...or seven years ago, your mentor, Werner Von Croy, was killed in your presence, and you took the blame for it. Of course, I do also know that your name was cleared shortly after you discovered what really happened." he continued. "From what I hear, you're quite the intelligent woman, Lara. I believe your talents and experience can help my team figure out what's going on behind these crimes."

At first, I didn't answer. It took me almost a full minute to decide what to say. I honestly did not want to get caught up in a situation like this...I was confused as is. And I most certainly was not comfortable with the authorities using me as a tool to find their answers. But from the looks of it, I wouldn't be searching for any acclaimed artifacts or chasing after some ridiculous legends anytime soon. Perhaps I could be useful.

"Alright. Where and when?" I finally acquired.

"London police headquarters, anytime before noon. I'll meet you there and bring you to where I need your help."

"Lovely."

_**-x-**_

A few hours later, I was seated in Bradford's car, driving to our destination. But, to my misfortune, he hadn't told me exactly where we were going. _This is why I never bother with the police_...I thought to myself. As if on cue, we pulled up to a tall, odd-looking house that had bright caution tape around the border of the yard, reading _Crime Scene Investigation_. Of course. More police.

Bradford got out from the driver's side and walked around the car to open the door for me. I stepped out and briefly studied my surroundings. There were dozens of investigators, some excavating the area for evidence, and others questioning the neighbors. I took off my sunglasses, then turned to Bradford.

"I'm afraid the stories you've heard have mislead you. I'm not an anthropologist, Mr. Bradford. I'm an _archaeologist_. I can't help you identify anybody. Contrary to common mistake, there is a big difference." I reminded him in an irritated tone. I could swear at that moment he rolled his eyes at me.

"I understand, Ms. Croft. But you are not like the other archaeologists, now are you?" Bradford pointed out. I bit my lip to stop myself from interrupting. "You've discovered and done things that others have yet to dream of. These investigators and you are not too different in what you do. You, Lara, search for relics all over the world, buried in the tombs of the ancient peoples. You pay attention to the history behind the artifacts. The anthropologists are more interested in the history behind the people who lie in the tombs. But, in common, we are all looking for one thing; the truth."

I had to admit to myself that he did have a point. Finding the truth is exactly what I had devoted my life to…I just wasn't exactly, well, up for it anymore. But I wasn't up to holding an argument, so I kept my mouth shut and motioned for him to continue.

Bradford led me inside the house. He allowed me to have a look around. The residence was obviously not taken care of too well; by the conditions, it seemed those who had lived there couldn't afford it.

The floors were dusty, the furniture looked battered and old. There were food stains atop the counter of the kitchen. I opened up a cabinet above the stove, and a spider hopped onto my finger. My eyes widened as it started to crawl up my arm. I yelped in surprise and slammed my hand on the counter. When I lifted it back up, the gooey insides of the spider was splattered on the edge of the stove. "Ugh." I wiped the remains of the creature off on the side of my trousers as I walked along.

I walked out of the kitchen and into the living room again, where Bradford stood, quietly observing me. I avoided looking at him, even though I could feel he was still staring at me, like federal agents always do. That bugged me, but I tried to ignore him. I surveyed the room and noticed the carpet was darker at one corner than the rest of it. I went over to have a better look, and realized that it wasn't just a change of shade. It was blood.

Although I had seen blood spilled so many times in my life, I couldn't help but wince at the sight of this. It was a dark red puddle seeping into the carpet, and even some of it was clearly visible on the walls above. Then I took a glimpse at the area around it. It was only then that I realized it did in fact look like a fight had taken place. The screen of the television set in front of the sofa had been cracked through the middle, and a mug was shattered on the floor beneath the coffee table.

Once again, I looked back at the place where the body of the victim had once been. Although the house looked like it hadn't been cleaned or set foot in for ages, the blood was unmistakably fresh. The puddle had been big enough to make a stain on the wooden floor just beside the carpet. It hadn't all dried up yet. There were still tiny streams of red inching over the floor, and dripping down the bottom of the wall. It was painful to look at any longer.

I wandered back to the front door where the agent stood, waiting. The expression on his face just bothered me.

"What do you need my help for? Your handy little team here seems to be doing just fine on their own." I snapped at him. Bradford's expression didn't change. He just gave me a look...I wasn't sure what kind, but I knew he was serious and wouldn't take any more sassy comments. Then I looked down at his hands and noticed he was holding a folder.

"What's that?" I asked, gesturing to the folder. Bradford looked down at it, then handed it to me. I opened it and began sifting through the pages, listening as the investigator explained. The first page had a picture and profile of a young woman. She had straight, strawberry blonde hair, and glossy green eyes. She was standing between two other girls, who both appeared younger than her.

"The girl in the middle..." Bradford tapped the photo with his finger, pointing at the blonde haired girl in the profile. "...her name is Rosalie Fuller, 18. The other two are her sisters, Vivian and Aurelia."

I nodded. "And what about them?"

"Rosalie Fuller is dead."

I felt a sting in my chest. I looked back at the picture of the smiling sisters. I knew this would have some awful explanation to it. "This girl was murdered? Who would do something like that?" I thought aloud.

"After we did some research, we found that, like all the previous crimes that have been going on lately, Rosalie had been good friends with a victim of the Monstrum killings all those years ago."

I looked up from the folder again and stared at Bradford in alarm. "Are you telling me you think that these murders are linked to those? It's ridiculous, how is that even possible?"

"I'm not saying it is, Lady Croft. No need to have a fit. I do doubt the assumption, but I have no right to believe it isn't possible. And neither do you," Bradford said before I could start going on about it. I sighed and decided to keep the conversation moving.

"Do you have any plausible suspects?" I asked.

"No...no, unfortunately not. But there is one person..." he began. "...who has shown up frequently around the time of the crimes."

He opened the front door for a moment and tapped the shoulder of the nearest investigator. He ordered her to give him something. Bradford closed the door again and handed me another folder in exchange for Rosalie's.

Inside was mostly just pictures, but no profile. Only random and miscellaneous notes here and there. The first picture seemed fairly new; a woman probably only a few years younger than me, who had short, straight black-brown hair. The bangs were cut at an angle across her face. Her clothing was dark and well fitted...she actually did seem a bit intimidating, or at least tough. But her eyes seemed so meek and serene, it was strange to think she could be threatening.

"This doesn't seem too much like an official file. Is she one of the victims?" I wondered.

Bradford chuckled. "No, she is certainly not a victim. Her name is Angela...though we don't know her surname. The closest thing we have to a full name is Angela Black. She's only called that because she's always, as they say, in the shadows."

I raised an eyebrow at the agent. "In the shadows?" _You've got to be kidding me_.

He nodded. "No one knows where she's from, or where she lives. Angela's always on the move, roaming the streets...hiding in alleyways. Apparently she's traveled a lot, though. Not sure how, considering she has no license of any kind. Although we've been tracking her for years, still, no one can seem to figure her out. She's never been confronted, never been arrested...but we know there's still something going on with her." Agent Bradford clarified. "She has also been often spotted in bars, yet she doesn't talk to many people. She's a real mystery, that girl."

As I looked through the numerous pictures, I came across one photo that sparked my interest. It was probably the oldest out of all of them. It was ripped along the edges and looked like it had been through a lot. It was a picture of a young girl and boy, maybe around the ages of ten or twelve. Both had dark hair, light skin, and either blue or green eyes, the picture was too blurry to tell. Perhaps brother and sister.

I tried to look closer at the photo. I squinted to see more detail. I figured the girl was Angela when she was younger...but I couldn't tell who the other was, only that he appeared to be a bit more mature.

"Who is this, the boy in the picture?" I tilted the folder towards Bradford for him to take a look.

"We don't know. We tried scanning the photo and searching the database, but nothing came up. Neither of them show up, in fact. We're guessing he's a relative or friend..." then he paused. "Do you recognize him?"

"No." I said, half lying. He did look oddly familiar. "I was just wondering."

There was a slight moment of silence. Obviously the both of us were thinking. Then I had an idea.

"Do you know where Angela is at the moment?" I asked.

"Well...she was last seen around that old billiard pub early this morning and last night."

"Good. It was a pleasure talking to you, Anthony." I smiled and walked out the door, leaving Bradford with a baffled look on his face.

"What- wait!" He called after me, holding open the door before it shut in his face. I turned around quickly to meet him as he came toward me. "Where are you going?"

I handed back Angela's file and grinned. "To go see our...lady in black, of course."

Just before I could get away again, I was stopped once more.

"Lara." Bradford said in a somber tone. I looked over my shoulder at him. "Be careful. You never know what she's capable of. I wouldn't want you to get hurt." He warned. I laughed and slid my shades back on.

"Then obviously, Mr. Bradford, you don't know who I am." I gave my last remark to the officer, then headed down the street.

As I walked, I reached into my back pocket and took out a piece of paper. I smirked. I had taken the old photo from Angela's file. I had to find out who they were. I had to know the truth.


	2. Blue Eyes, Blue Heart

**Blue Eyes, Blue Heart**

The moment I stepped onto the street downtown, I could already smell the beer and heavy alcohol floating out from the billiards pub. I looked up and noticed that already the sun was setting. I had to find Angela before she moved on to someplace else. I kept hoping that she hadn't already.

As I walked around the corner of the building, another odor came across my awareness. I cringed at the smell of it- it was the aroma of cigarette smoke. I tried my best to ignore it. I peeped through the window of the pub and scouted the room. All I saw was a large crowd of people, either playing billiards or mingling around the bar. Yet there was no sign of Angela.

Suddenly I heard loud, arguing voices coming from somewhere around me. I looked away from the window and glimpsed around the corner into the alleyway beside me.

"Yeah, you get the hell out of here! What makes you think I give a rat's ass!" I heard a woman's voice yell towards the other end of the alley. All I saw was a dark figure of her that started walking back, but I couldn't make out her face. The smell of smoke was stronger now, and I was sure it was coming from her.

I dared to take my chances as I walked into the alleyway. The woman stopped in her tracks as I came up to her. Once I was within a ten foot distance from her, I finally saw her face. It was Angela.

She looked just as she did in the first photo of her file that Bradford had given me. Layered and unevenly cut hair that skimmed past her jawline, and looked almost black in the shadows, but I could tell that it was only a very dark shade of brown. Her clothes matched her surroundings perfectly. Dark and mysterious.

She was tall and thin; her legs were long and lanky. She sported a black leather jacket with a loose, cherry-red shirt underneath that went down just far enough to act as a dress. Her ripped-up tights disappeared into a pair of dark boots that tied up at her knees. Heavy black eyeshadow and dark eyeliner surrounded her sharp blue eyes, making them seem even bluer. Her daintily shaped lips were a tone of dark red; so dark it took me a moment to recognize that they weren't black. She would have stuck out like a sore thumb in a crowd, but she was strangely beautiful.

Surprisingly enough, as she stood in close range to me, the smell wasn't nearly as revolting. Instead she had a certain warm, pungently sweet yet smoldering smell. It was similar to smoke, but not of cigarettes; of someone who had spent much of their life by burning firewood and surrounded by forest and rich, earthy soil. It was such a familiar and enticing smell...yet I couldn't quite put my finger on where I'd smelled it before.

Altogether, she _did_appear as someone you didn't want to fool with, but most definitely not a murderer. She just didn't have that kind of presence, and based upon her generally slender and frankly gangly build, she didn't seem remotely strong enough to pull off something like that. Even I could have passed for a murderer better than she could. Then again, to some of those few who know details of my exploits, I'm already considered one.

At least now I knew where she got her rumoured name from.

"Angela? Angela Black?" I questioned. She looked me over from head to toe and eyed me with a suspicious look.

"Yeah. And who are you? Police?" She answered bitterly. Her voice was sharp and very clear, to my surprise, but still very laid back, as if she were almost wishing that I were an authority figure, just so that she could taunt and humiliate me. Like a child breaking the rules and anticipating the fun in mocking their teachers.

"No, I'm not, _actually_." I snapped.

"Oh, really? Then tell me, lady, who are you?" Angela scoffed, flicking her cigarette into a puddle and putting her hands on her hips as a gesture of phony bravado. She wasn't from around here. An American.

I straightened up, pulling my shoulders back as I felt a dull tinge of offense at her use of the word 'lady'. I couldn't quite tolerate the term other then when it was used by Winston. I never got used to it; not when I was an adolescent, and most certainly not now.

"Lara-" I began, only to be stopped.

"..Croft?" Angela interrupted. Then she smirked. "I've heard of you. You do all kinds of crazy stuff. Rob tombs, steal relics, kill a bunch of bad guys, right?"

I tightened my jaw. "_Right_."

Angela laughed. "My bad, didn't mean it like that. So, Croft, what brings you here to talk to a moody lowlife like me?"

I nearly smiled at her words, even though they weren't the most genuine or welcoming. The way she spoke reminded of something, not sure what, but it wasn't threatening at all. It felt almost...comforting?

"You've been spotted near some of those crime scenes recently." I started. Angela's grin dropped immediately and she rolled her eyes.

"I thought you said you had nothing to do with the feds." She sighed.

"I don't. I'm not interested in what the police are saying about you, Angela. Quite honestly, in fact, I don't care about anything they say. All they do is make a bigger mess of things than they already are." I reassured her. Angela raised an eyebrow at me.

"Then what _are_ you interested in?" She asked slowly. Now I was getting her attention.

I reached into my pocket again and gave her the photo. "Recognize this?"

Angela observed the photo for a minute. I couldn't even tell what emotion she was feeling by the look on her face. She had gone from cocky and confident in one moment to shocked and almost deeply regretful the next. She looked as though an old tear in her heart had been re-broken.

"Where'd you get this?" She asked quietly, not looking up from the picture.

"The police. They have files on you, and despite the things they've told me, I couldn't help but want to find out what's really going on. I need to hear it from you." I explained.

Angela shook her head and gave the photo back to me. "I don't know what you're talking about."

I gave her a look of complete disbelief. "What?"

"You heard me; I don't know what you're talking about. I have nothing to say to you, Croft. Now I suggest that you get your pretty little face out of here before you get into trouble." Angela insisted. She turned around and started back toward the other side of the alley. After that comment my head felt really hot. I was definitely losing my patience with this girl.

"Angela!" I called after her. I ran up behind her and grabbed her arm tightly. "He's your brother, isn't he?"

She didn't dare look at me. "Maybe." Angela muttered. "Why would you care?"

"I...I don't know." I lost my confidence for a moment. I didn't really have a reason to care. "I just do, alright? That's my job. To find out the truth. I don't want any more innocent people dying, and I know that you have information I need."

Angela seemed to struggle in finding her words. "The last time I saw him, I was only thirteen years old. He was my best friend."

Those words were just enough to explain. I couldn't even imagine what may have happened to him.

"Angela, I know what it's like, and I know it's difficult. But you need to trust me. The police think you have something to do with the crimes. Now you have to come clean and tell me; did you take any part in the murders of those people?" I questioned.

"No, I would never do something like that. What's the point in killing someone if they never did anything wrong?"

Despite only knowing her for a few minutes, I fully believed everything she said. I let go of her arm and walked back toward the pub.

"Come on." I said.

"What...where are we going?" She replied as she followed behind me. I took out my PDA and dialed my home number. Zip answered. I told him to bring the van and hung up.

"Who was that?" Angela asked again.

"Well, if you're going to help me figure out anything, I'd have to be able to contact you whenever needed." I began. "And you need a place to stay, don't you?"

"But..." Angela sighed. "Well, yeah. You live in one of them big mansions, right?"

I nodded.

She half-smiled. "Okay. But I need to pick up my stuff from...my... um. Hideout."

I gave her a perplexed but amused look. "Your hideout? Alright then, whatever you say."

_**-x-**_

Angela and I climbed into the backseat of the van and slid the door closed. Zip turned around in his seat to face us.

"Who's this?" he asked, motioning to Angela.

"Zip, this is-"

"I'm Angela. Pleasure to meet you." Angela quickly interfered my introduction, the pitch of her voice suddenly elated. She immediately held out a hand for Zip to shake, to which I was a bit surprised, and gave him a charming smile.

_The flirty type, I see_...I thought crossly to myself._ Wonderful._

"Name's Zip. Nice to see Lara's made a new friend." Zip said in return with a grin. He turned back around and started the car.

An hour later, we pulled up into the driveway at the mansion. We got out of the van and entered the house through the front double-doors.

"Alright...Lara, if you need me I'll be where I always am." Zip said lightly. Then he nodded to Angela. "See ya." He headed off to his bedroom.

"There are plenty of rooms in the mansion to choose from. Make yourself at home." I told Angela. She began to proceed further into the home, but I held out my arm in front of her.  
"Under one condition- don't do anything stupid and..." I paused to remember that wretched aroma from the alleyway, and raised a brow at her sternly. "...no smoking inside, understood?"

Angela shrugged. "Yeah, whatever."

_**-x-**_

"What the bloody hell happened in here?"

I was standing in the middle of the library. Everything was completely destroyed in the vast room. Shelves and cabinets all opened, tables overturned, books thrown all over the floor.  
Angela, Winston, and Zip stood beside me, not knowing what to say.

"I have no idea..." Zip barely managed to murmur. I began leafing through all the distort piles of paper that covered up the top of a desk as Zip threw out an array of apologies and explanations. "I tried checking the security cameras but they were wrecked. They broke the locks on the front doors, I don't even know how they got past the gates..."

"Hush, Zip. None of you came down here last night?" I asked, bewildered at how there was nothing and no one who had witnessed any of this.

"I didn't even hear anything." Zip replied, still flustered. Winston responded with a negative as well. Then Angela spoke up.

"Well at least that thing didn't burn down your house this time." We all looked at her in confusion.

"How did you know about that?" I questioned her in awe.

"I _do_ watch the news, you know. I'm not as uneducated as I seem, thank you very much." She answered in defense. I gave her a distrusted look, narrowing my eyes and cocking my head to the side.

"I wasn't talking about that. You said 'that _thing_'. That certainly wasn't mentioned on the news, now was it?" I pressed my questioning. Angela struggled to find words. I was getting suspicious. The only people who knew that the explosion of the Manor wasn't an accident were me, Zip, and Winston.

"I..." Angela hesitated. Then she took a deep breath and sighed. "I...I know that the explosion wasn't due to a boiler leak. I know about that, that _thing_, that broke into the manor. And I know that it almost killed you-" she paused, looking me in the eye with remorse. "-and that it killed your friend."

Winston and Zip exchanged a gaze between me and Angela in astonishment.

"How?"

Angela shuffled her feet slightly, scratching nervously at her head. "I see things. Things that have happened to people in the past. And, unfortunately, things that may happen to them in the future." Angela muttered. I just stared at her. Her expression and her tone were so serious I wasn't even sure if she were joking around or not. Finally, Zip broke the silence.

"So you're tellin' us you're some kinda crazy psychic?"

"Well...well, no. Not _that_ crazy." Angela clarified, still unable to leave out her sarcastic vibe. "And I wouldn't call it psychic, really. That sounds too much like a cheesy label."

Winston cleared his throat and piped in, "I think I'll take this opportunity to go make some tea now, if you'll excuse me..." He made his way past me and out the door, clearly anxious to get out of the awkward scene.

Before I decided to start fighting with Angela over the situation, I thought for a moment. The things she saw could be helpful. I didn't want to think of each other as enemies. Not when she could have knowledge that would be vital in the near future.

I rubbed the back of my neck and sighed. "Do you have anything else you're hiding from us?"

"No...not that I can think of." Angela stated. "I mean...no. Sorry. Please, don't take it the wrong way. I can't read your minds or anything. I'm really not _that_ good." She teased, trying to lighten the mood but ultimately being unsuccessful.

"Then can you tell me, what happened to Rosalie Fuller when she was murdered? Can you see that?" I asked hopefully.

"No...I'm sorry. I wish I could, but I couldn't. My visions come at random, not on command. That's just the way it is. I told you already, I'm not good at it." Angela replied. I began to lose my hope in finding the information I needed. Obviously Angela could see that. "But I can tell you one thing; the ones who came in here last night were looking for something, I don't know what, but they didn't find it. They won't stop until they do."

I deliberated over all the possible items or information that someone could want from me. Most of the artifacts I've unearthed were still in the Manor that was under construction. I looked to Zip for some help.

"Excalibur?" he guessed, completely unsure.

"I doubt it. There's no use for it any longer, and the only dais left in the world is in Helheim. No one would ever want to be stuck in such a horrid place." I muttered, not wanting to discuss my words any further. "Even if they wished to, they'd have to find another way in. The place was destroyed."

Suddenly something caught my eye. A small piece of parchment at the corner of the desk amongst the pile. I reached over and picked it up. It was a light green card with black borders. It was completely blank except for a few letters and numbers typed across the front, along with a bar code on the bottom.

"What's this?" I looked closer to read what was written on the card. "_B5 #13627_." I read aloud.

Angela took the card from me. "Let me see that." She held it for a moment, observing the writing. Then she gave it back to me. "Maybe they dropped it?"

This was useless. I huffed in frustration and turned to Zip. "Can you scan this and see what you can find?"

He took the card from me. "No problem."

Angela and I followed Zip into his room. The entire area was occupied by computers and electronics. There was hardly enough living space for it to be a real bedroom. But I suppose, with his love for the video games he played all night, he didn't mind it being that way.

"Okay, well, it could take a few hours to come up with any useful results." Zip reminded me. "You should go check up on Winston, that poor guy." He added on, somewhat teasingly. He was trying to make me feel reassured.

"You take as long as you need to. Do whatever it takes to find out who and where that card came from." I said determinedly. "I want to know what's going on, and I want to know who infiltrated my home. Especially if it's someone who can pull that off without anyone knowing." Hopefully this would get me somewhere.

_**-x-**_

Zip tossed the card back to me. "Sorry it took so long. I scanned it, searched it, and came up with this..." he motioned to the data on his computer screen. "There's a small brand logo in the right corner, hardly noticeable, but when I looked closer, I thought it could help."

"And?" I asked, curious. Angela walked into the room and stood, also waiting for more information.

"Found out, it stands for the Genesis Trading Company. They manufacture and import tons of stuff- electronics, hardware, some real high tech devices, even drugs for the medical departments that they test in their own labs. Basically, if someone needs something, they've got it. They're well known for all that. But...after doing some more research and...uh, hacking into a few of the company's stats and data, I also found out that those aren't the only things they have in their inventory."

"...what are they keeping as a secret?"

Zip sighed and rubbed his head. "Illegal drugs and weapons. Lots of them. And, apparently..." he paused. I didn't like the look on his face. "...they have some kind of living thing...an experimental project, in one of the factories. I couldn't find any more information about that. It's the most concealed thing they have on their database. Maybe this company has a lot more to it than just 'trading'."

I felt my palms getting damp, and then I realized I had been holding them in fists the whole time. I let them relax. I didn't know why I had gotten so tense, but it was a good thing that I had noticed it before my own nails broke through my skin. I began to find it harder to breathe at a normal pace. Angela evidently saw I wasn't too happy with what I had been informed of, and neither did she. I swallowed hard before talking. "This...this project. Where is it now?"

Zip thought for a moment. "The Genesis factories are huge. And 'huge' might be an understatement. They have more than one in each Genesis territory, they're like giant military bases, no joke. Hey, they're a big company, busiest trading development in the world." He began. "They have five of these bases. One in Russia, Italy, and Japan. The other two are in the US, on the east and west side."

Zip took another look at the screen to read the facts. He turned back to me. "They recently were transporting some heavy cargo from the factories in Russia to the grounds in Tokyo. That's your safest bet right now, as to where that...thing is being kept."

I turned the card over in my hand. Nothing on the back of course. I read the code on the front again. B5 13627. I glanced back at Zip. "And what about the numbers? What do they mean?"

"Sorry to break it to you, but that's all the info I've got. Though if I were to take a shot at it, I'd guess that it's some kind of security code or a computer password at the factory." He replied, disappointed.

Finally, I knew I had to make a choice. I slid the card into my pocket and turned back towards the door. "Zip, I think it's time to take a trip back to Japan, don't you?"  
He got up from his chair and followed me and Angela out into the hall.

"Um...yeah, okay. I'll set up everything as usual, and you'll be off." He responded idly.

He was so used to the same old routine. But I was sure that he, and the rest of us, had thought our little break would last at least a little longer. But alas, there was always some situation going on in the world- and it always seemed that I was somehow destined to be pulled into every last one. That's just the way it went, and after living in that certain cycle for most of my life, I'd grown quite fond of the adventures. Though it would have been nice to take a vacation. I thought that perhaps, one day, when I've grown old or when I've died, there'd be someone else in the world who'd do the same job that I've been doing for most of my life.

"So...we're going to Tokyo?" Angela asked curiously, her eyes sparkling with interest. I shot her look that just said _you-must-be-kidding_.

"No. _We_ aren't going to Tokyo. _I_am." I corrected her, bringing down her hopes. Somehow it aggravated me when she'd just assumed she'd be coming along for the trip. "I'm afraid you're staying here with Zip and Winston." I added on spitefully, "I don't need any extra luggage." And with that, I turned away from the both of them and headed up to my room.

I had a long journey ahead.


	3. Long Lost Treasure

**Long Lost Treasure**

The last time I visited Japan had been over a year ago. I was searching for one of the fragments of King Arthur's fabled sword, Excalibur, in hopes that it may lead me to the truth about my mother. But to my dismay, even after re-forging the artifact to see through the looking glass in Bolivia, I got more than I bargained for. In the end, I found it all to be a waste. My father was killed due to his belief and dedication to my mother's survival, by the cold blooded hands of an enemy I'd come to know well.

After the events taken place in the past year, I had truly thought he was right in believing she was alive. But by the time I had managed to get to where he thought she had been trapped, it was too late. Still today, I'm not quite sure what I had seen in Helheim, and whether or not that was truly the end for both of my parents. I decided that enough was enough. If all I did for the rest of my life was try to pursue the whereabouts of someone who was already dead, or something that didn't exist, then there was no point. It was time to move on. Some things are not meant to be found.

The taxi pulled up to the hotel where Zip had booked a room for me. After gathering my bags, I paid the driver and got out of the car. The glowing red and gold Japanese characters above the entrance read _Spirit of the Sun_. I strolled through the front doors and walked up to the woman behind the sign in desk. She was fiddling with the room keys on the shelves, unaware at the moment that I was waiting. I tapped quietly on the top of the desk.

"Excuse me?" I said as politely as I could. The woman looked over her shoulder at me, and whilst doing so, she dropped the set of keys she had been holding. She blushed and quickly picked them up. After hastily putting them back in their place, she turned around and grinned warmly at me. Her face showed wisdom with her age. The creases around her eyes were more than clear when she smiled. But still, it made me feel welcomed.

She asked how she could help me, in Japanese, and I tried my best to respond in the same language, explaining that I wasn't from around here. Although I'm fluent in several languages, I always had a bit more difficulty with the Asian tongue.

She nodded and gave me an understanding smile. "You come here before?" She asked in English, sounding a bit odd.

"Yes, quite a few times, actually." I gladly replied. I took a second to look at the finely decorated interior of the hotel. There was a fountain in the middle of the room that was ornately designed in bamboo and gold accents. There was a shimmering engraving of Amaterasu, the sun goddess of the Japanese mythology, in the center of the display. There was a small living area by the elevators, where there were a few incense burning on the tables. The constant opening and closing of the front doors nearby let in a breeze that pushed the calming scent of the candles towards me. It smelt like vanilla and lavender.

I turned back to the woman, who was being pleasantly patient. "Your hotel is gorgeous. Lovely decor you have."

"Thank you." She replied, flattered. She extended a small, frail hand to me, and I accepted the handshake. "My name is Rina." I gave her my name in exchange, along with all the information she needed for me to sign into my reserved room, and I received my room keys. Before I left for the elevator, she added more thing: "Welcome."

_**-x-**_

I had about an hour to get ready. The sun had gone almost completely down, and I needed to be at Genesis when it was just dark enough to sneak past any security that came in my way while I was there.

After pulling my long, brunette hair back into a neat ponytail, although I failed to keep the remaining short strips of hair from falling in front of my face, I threw on a pair of black trousers and a dark tank top. I strapped gun holsters to my sides and placed my dual pistols in their place. I slipped on my black combat boots and made sure they were secure.

As I tugged on a pair of dark fingerless gloves and headed for the door, I stopped myself before reaching for the handle. It would be a horribly stupid idea to go walking around the lobby with guns at my sides, so I turned on my heels and started for the window.

_**-x-**_

Zip was right. The Genesis factory base was enormous. I didn't even know where to start. The entire exterior of the base was fenced in with barbed wire. There were moving cameras at every last corner of the buildings and factories, I could see so many of them just from where I was standing. Zip had warned me that there would be a lot of wires and electrical obstacles, and his advice in bringing the headset with me now sounded like an excellent idea.

I kneeled down on the pavement and took off my small backpack. I reached into it, took out my PDA, and connected to Zip's call. I hooked the wireless headset onto my ear as I waited for him to answer. I put the PDA in the outer pocket of the bag and swung it back over my shoulders.

"Zip? Zip, can you hear me?" I asked, tapping the headset.

I heard the muffling noise of the radio connection, and finally Zip came on.

"Hey, Lara. So..." Zip began. "You just couldn't keep your hands off the earpiece, could ya?"

I rolled my eyes. "You were right. This place is the perfect trap for me to get electrocuted. I don't want to be running through the wrong wires at the wrong time."

"Right. Well, I guess that's what you have me for, huh?" A pause. "Hmm. Well you ain't gonna be able to get past that security unnoticed, so you're gonna have to take the high route. If you can get up on that lower rooftop over there and stay at about that level or higher, you should be fine. And hey, you might want to take another look at that card. I was thinkin', maybe B5 stands for Building 5. Try making your way over there. If I see anything goin' wrong, I'll tell ya. Good luck."

I did as he said. I scouted the area for something I could use to get me up onto roof of the lowest building. My eye lingered over a pipe that lead up the side of the building, but it was dangerously close to the fence. I didn't want to get one of my feet caught in the wire- if I did, then I'd be toasted to death. But I decided it was the only way I could find.

I cautiously went up to the pipe and grabbed on with both hands. I began carefully ascending upwards, placing my feet firmly against the wall, but I felt myself instinctively leaning away from the fence. I kept my eyes on the barbed wire the entire way. Even though it might have been the lowest building, it was still quite a distance from the ground. Eventually as I got into the steady pace of climbing up the pipe, my eyes wandered away from the wire and I focused on getting up onto the roof.

Suddenly as I was ready to pull myself up onto the rooftop, I felt an unbearably sharp sting in my leg, and a shock went through my entire body. Both of my hands went loose and I lost my grip on the pipe. Before I went freefalling, I quickly regained my grab on the ledge of the rooftop, and slowly pulled up, my arms feeling strange and weak. I sat on my knees for a moment, then shook the nerve out of my hands. I got up and glanced down at my foot. There was a small scratch just below my knee on the backside of my leg where the barbed wire had unluckily seared into me. I was quite surprised that such a small contact had created such a great effect on me.

The rest of the way across the next few rooftops wasn't nearly as difficult as I had thought. There were definitely some evident differences in the height of them, but they coincidently had ladders all around. I kept hoping that no one would be needing to use those ladders to get to the roofs anytime soon. That would have only turned out to the worst of my luck.

As I hopped onto the top of the next building, I stopped and turned around to count how many I had passed. Four. Which meant that I was standing on Building 5. I peered over the edge at the long narrow cement pathway that lead through all the surrounding buildings. The door I needed to get in was in plain sight of two moving cameras on the corners of the building in front of me. _Damn it_.

I pressed my finger to the headset again. Zip hadn't said a single word for a while now.

"Zip? Are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm with ya. What's up?"

"I can't reach the door. Those cameras are pointing directly at it. If I'm seen, then security would be here in a hurry. I won't be able to get away fast enough...they'll take me down before I get the chance."

"Huh.." Zip sighed, thinking. "Can you find another way in from the roof?"

I glanced at my surroundings. There was no other entrance up here. I found that surprising, considering this seemed like the largest building of the bunch. But it wasn't nearly as tall as it was long. It looked like it went on for miles. Of course that would be irrational, but the immenseness of it made it seem that way. I wondered if this was the factory where they were keeping that "project".

"No. There's nothing here. The only thing on this rooftop is the ventilation system. But I can't get through that, it's nearly impossible." I said, trying to figure out how I was to get in.

"Well...it's worth a shot."

"There's no opening. It's closed in."

"Oh, come on, Lara. Anything that's locked is meant to be opened, right?" Zip taunted me with my own words. I cursed silently to myself. He had definitely made a good point.

"Fine. But I'm blaming it on you if I get stuck in the air duct." I decided.

"Right. Wait, one more thing; once you're in there, make sure you keep track of where you have and haven't been. That place is like a labyrinth- you'll get lost before you know it."

I went over to the vent and tried to look through the top of it. There was just a small square of horizontal metal bars that lead down into the vent. I decided to try and get it off so I could find my way in. I considered kicking it in, but I was afraid it'd cause too much ruckus. I reached to the side of my belt and unlatched the grapple. I tied it around one of the bars and, while still holding onto it, I backed up and pulled as hard as I possibly could on the string of the grapple. The metal bars came flying off, and they hit the pavement with a loud ringing sound. I hoped silently that nobody had heard it. I retrieved the grapple and hooked it back onto my belt, then headed back towards the vent. I could clearly see inside the hole now- there was a dark room visible below it. It wasn't too far down. I climbed on top of the vent and lowered myself into the hole, holding on to the edges with both hands. I hung there for a moment above the floor, then let go and dropped into the room.

I stood up. The area around me looked like something the employees used as storage. Shelves, boxes, packages, and crates covered the entire room. There was only one door in the room, and I expected it to lead straight out into an open area where I'd have to make a run for it, but when I opened the door, it was a dark, narrow hallway. No cameras, no security.

I could hardly see a thing; there was absolutely no light besides the low-glowing emergency back-up lights that were seen on the top of the walls every now and then. It gave me the chills. I wasn't sure why, but I could just feel that there was something, or someone, waiting for me at the end of the hall, where it turned a corner. I reached for my pistols and held them out in front of me as I cautiously stepped down the hallway. This didn't seem at all like the interior of a factory. I neared the end of the hall, where it split into a T. I glimpsed towards the left of the split off, and noticed there were only packages piled atop one another at that end. I couldn't see past them. The other side went farther down, so I went that way off to the right. Once again, it was almost completely black around me, except for the dim light of the fire alarms and back-ups on the high walls. If I didn't know that this were a working factory, I'd have assumed it was abandoned.

With my pistols still in hand and ready to fire if needed, I continue down the hall. It seemed to get narrower and narrower, but I assumed that was only my imagination. It was a somewhat claustrophobic environment, though I didn't mind it much. This hall was longer than all the others, and as I went down, I noticed two or three slim passageways that lead into tiny, dark rooms. I let them pass my mind, as there was no point to go inside any of them. The rooms were nearly as small as closets, it looked as if it could fit three, maybe four people at the most inside them.

I stopped at the midway of the hall. Once again, it split into a T, but as I looked at the wall in front of me, I saw a blue reflection of water shimmering across. I sidestepped over to left wall and stole a peek at the other side of the T. Another blocked off end. As I started to walk towards my only free passageway, which was were the reflection was coming from, I stopped dead in my tracks as I heard a sound. It sounded frightening, like some kind of off-key groan, as if from some kind of animal or something. It was coming from the room with the water behind the wall.

I quietly stepped backward, so my back was against the wall, and very slowly sidestepped to the corner, passing yet another closet-sized room. I thought I heard another sound coming from the room with the water, but then I got a sudden startled feeling in my gut. It was behind me.

Before I got the chance to turn around and defend myself, something grabbed my arm firmly and twisted it behind me, forcing my gun to fly out of my hands. I lost grip of my other pistol as it was yanked away from me. I shrieked in pain, but my voice was cut off by another hand that slapped over my mouth. In just seconds, I was completely restrained and pulled back into the nearest of the tiny rooms.

I tried to yell again, even though it wasn't the smartest idea. All they did was make their grasp on me even stronger.

"Shh." The deep, stern voice of a man said behind me. "_Don't move_."

I obeyed. I didn't know why, until I realized why he had told me to keep quiet. I saw the shadow of some deformed figure on the wall out in the hallway. I could hear footsteps dragging on the floor. My lungs seized to breathe for the moment as the source of the sounds walked across the hall. It was a human- but it hardly looked alive. It resembled a Thrall, like the ones I had seen in Helheim, but I was more than sure it wasn't. It was just a poor man who had, from the looks of it, been tortured into the loss of his functioning mind. He staggered down the hall, his eyes halfway closed and not looking in any certain direction. So much of his skin displayed torn, bloody flesh and acid burns, and it was difficult to look at. I closed my eyes in the remaining moments that the disheveled, sickening figure passed down the hall.

After the coast was clear, the man who had me in his grip pulled me farther back into the room and dragged me to the floor. He let go of me, and handed back my guns. If we were actually able to see each other, I would have given him a look of complete bewilderment. I hadn't ever expected him to give back the weapons he had just confiscated from me, but still I took them slowly and placed them back in their holsters. The light of the reflection out in the hall was just enough to let me see the shadow of him. But still, I couldn't see his face.

"What was that for?" I asked quietly, keeping my distance from him. Or, at least the most distance I could get in a room the size of a cleaning closet. I stayed seated in the corner. He said nothing.

I hated it when people did that. Do their job in trying to ruin any of my plans, and then completely ignore me when I spoke.

"What do you want?" I asked again, more demanding and louder this time. Maybe a bit too loud for my new friend.

"Don't talk so loud, damn it." He snapped at me. "You'll get us both killed."

I stayed deathly silent for a moment. I would normally have felt threatened by a comment like that in this type of situation, but his voice sounded familiar. Too familiar.

I lowered my voice. "Sorry." I was a bit surprised at myself for apologizing. I should probably have been angry with him. "What...what was that thing?" I paused, considering my choice of words. Although I probably shouldn't have been twisting my luck with this guy, I thought about what Zip had told me about the experiments. "...was he part of the project?"

I could feel him staring at me, as if I shouldn't have mentioned the matter. I readied myself for anything he was about do to or say. And I was sure I wasn't going to like it.

"You should watch what you say around here. If anyone found out that you knew about the experiments, they'd never let you out of here. You'll become part of it." He said again. I shivered at the thought of being part of the experiments. I listened to his words almost as much as I concentrated on his voice. I knew it from somewhere. I was sure of it. From someplace in my faraway past...

"...but yes." He continued. "He was one of the test subjects. You should thank me for saving your ass back there. If I hadn't gotten to you before that thing came, you'd probably be dead right now."

"No, I would have been just fine on my own. You obviously _knew_ I had weapons. I can defend myself." I retorted, feeling quite insulted that he thought I couldn't take care of myself.

"Shooting at it would have been a stupid idea, _Ms. Croft_. First off, the gunshots would be loud enough for the people in the next building to hear, and it wouldn't have done too much damage. Secondly, by the time you would have realized that thing was about to attack you, it would've been too close for you to get away." He corrected me, seemingly annoyed with the fact that I hadn't known that. Apparently he liked to be right about everything.

I would have thought of a witty comeback by then, but once again, I surprised myself by not replying with anger. My mind was too busy trying to figure out why I felt like I knew him. The tone and emphasis he had put on my name sounded identical to something that my mind was telling me that I'd heard before, yet so distant at the same time. Obviously, he knew exactly who I was, despite the complete darkness. So he already knew before hand that I was going to be here. I didn't even notice at first, but then there was a silence between the two of us for a minute or so. I was so confused at nothing. Before I could ask, it was as if he had read my mind; _Who are you?_

He grabbed my arm, more gently this time, and hauled me up onto my feet. He walked to the opening of the room, and looked both ways to check if anyone else was around. There was no one. He pulled me out into the hallway and towards the wall illuminating with the blue, watery light. I sure hoped he knew whether or not the following room was safe, because that was where the distorted man had walked out of. Of course, he looked around the corner once again into the room with the water and decided it was safe.

Slowly, he lead me into the room, which was still dim except for the light of the tiny square pool of water in the middle of the room filling it wall to wall with its stunning aqua reflection. I almost wanted to go in and touch the almost perfect water, but from the strange smell and temperature in the room, I decided that it might have been acid. So, no, touching it would be a _bad_ idea.

I looked back up at the man, and gasped when I saw that everything was much clearer now.

I stopped breathing, and my heart seemed to fully seize to beat. I couldn't even blink; I couldn't look away from him, my eyes were locked on his face. I was speechless, as if my voice had been stolen from my throat, wandering off somewhere as it hung in the air. Now I was fully aware of why I thought I had known him from somewhere before. Because I did know him.

Finally, somewhere buried deep inside of me, I found my voice to speak one, hushed, and almost forbidden word:

"Kurtis?"


	4. Hunger

**Hungry?**

I was in complete shock. This wasn't real. It couldn't be. I was looking straight into the deep blue eyes of a man who I'd known to be dead- Kurtis Trent. He'd helped me all those years ago in France, when the Monstrum murders had taken place.

And suddenly, another feeling twisted my gut as more realization dawned; Bradford had been asking me about those murders. This just couldn't be happening.

I regained my breath, but it was all at the wrong pace. I stepped back frantically and pulled my arm away from him.

"No, how...how...did you..." I felt like a fool, babbling with words of nonsense. But then again, I didn't really care if I seemed foolish to him now. Why _should_ I care? I was in too much shock. And, for some reason, I felt a surge of anger, or some sort of uncontrollable fury. I had a sudden impulse to slap him, or just do _something_to get rid of all the strange, random feelings boiling up to the top of my throat. But I held myself back from doing any such thing. Instead, I went with the safest, most sensible thing I could think of at the moment.

I yelled at him.

"You're...but, you're _dead_. You're _dead_!" I insisted, repeating the phrase multiple times to make my points.

I kept prattling to myself with uncertainty, and I didn't even know what to do or say. Nothing made any sense, and after wasting my breath on nonsense words, sure enough my head began throbbing and I couldn't make sense of things. I tried to calm myself down but I felt more confused than ever.

"Lara." Kurtis said, but too quiet for me to make much note of it. "_Lara_!" He repeated louder, grabbing my arms again to keep me still. "_Calm down_. I'm right here. Do I _look_dead to you?"

For a moment I thought he was taunting me, but when I replayed his words in my head, I realized he was only making a light-hearted comment. Trying to make me feel better, like Zip always did.

Oh, God. _Zip_.

I roughly tugged myself away from Kurtis's grip, eyeing him angrily for a moment, and then reached up to my ear to tap the headset.

"...Zip?" I asked into the earpiece. No answer.

"Hello, Zip?" I repeated. Nothing.

I unhooked the headset from my ear and looked down at it. I reached back into my bag with the other hand and took out my PDA. The screen read "No network coverage". And then, I realized, it had probably lost signal all the way back from where I had dropped into the building from the ventilation system. So much interference at that point, and after that, no signal.

I put the PDA and the earpiece away, once more looking back up at Kurtis. I no longer thought my eyes deceived me. This was real.

"What was that?" He inquired about the headset, trying to put my focus on something else.

But I was distracted. I almost felt...hurt, on the inside. The hurt from underestimating his possibility of surviving. I mean, for a few months after the events, I kept my hopes that he had survived, and we'd see each other again, but we never did. It was strange that I held on to my belief of his survival for so long, and I didn't know why I had cared so much. I suppose that was another thing I had in common with my father. I had known Kurtis for barely two or three days, perhaps, but oddly enough, I felt like I had known him for longer than that.

I didn't only feel the pain of sadness from my side of it, but frustration from the part he played in my feelings. I was angry that he knew I was alive and never tried to contact me. I was honestly hurt by that. But, then again, this wasn't the first time. I've assumed other people to be dead before, only to find out years later that they were alive and avoiding me. Or keeping a secret. Like my old friend, who unfortunately turned on me after years of no contact, Amanda Evert.

I took a deep breath and sighed. "Zip. He's...he's my friend. He helped me get into this place, and gave me all the information I needed about those...experiments."

Kurtis studied my face for a moment, and gave me a look of understanding. He knew I was thinking about something else.

"I'm sorry, Lara." He said, looking into my eyes with a genuine regret. "I tried to find you, I swear I did, every day I tried, but..." He stopped. As if he were forcing himself to change his wording before he said something he'd regret later. "...but some things got out of hand. Things I had to deal with."

"How did you know I would be here?" I asked, my tone on the rim of suspicion. I wondered why he'd been so calm, and certainly prepared, when it came to sneaking up behind me like that and, to my dismay, fully disabling me from defending myself. _Hmph._ I reminisced back to when we first met. _Sounds familiar enough..._

"I don't know. I just had this feeling that...you were somewhere close." He paused again, being evidently careful with the words he spoke. "I just knew that you would be here."

For a split second, I got that disturbing feeling that he was stalking me again, as I was confused at his explanation. Then I was relieved, remembering that Kurtis had been the last living member of the Lux Veritatis, an ancient order that fought against the Cabal, the sinister organization that had used the Monstrum as their cover-up to hide what was really going on. He had those kind of abilities, to sense nearby existences. And I clearly recalled that he had used a telekinetic power more than once the last time I saw him.

"Is that the only reason you came in here? You got past all that security just to break in here to find me?" I questioned him curiously.

He looked like he wanted to say yes, but in his hesitation, he didn't. "No, that wasn't my initial reason to get into this factory. I found out about the same thing you did- the Genesis project -and I came here looking for answers."

"Answers?"

Before Kurtis could reply, we suddenly heard the blaringly deafening noise of an alarm go off. The lights on the ceiling, which I had failed to notice before, turned on abruptly, and the entire room was blindingly bright. I squinted to see while my eyes adjusted to the sudden change in contrast. Kurtis had the same problem.

"Shit." He cursed. "They know we're here. We have to get out, _now_."

We ran out of the room back into the hallway, which was now also filled with light, and retraced the route I had taken earlier as fast as possible. The alarm continued to sound, and we heard distant yelling in Japanese coming from somewhere nearby in the factory.

We came to a halt at the first T split. It didn't look like either ones I had passed before; both halls went farther down, and neither one was blocked off. Then I remembered the warning Zip had given me; _This place is like a labyrinth_.

"Which way?" I asked frantically above the sound of the alarm. I just knew that security was on its way, and they were close. We looked down both halls once more, then Kurtis started off to the left and signaled me to follow. I hoped the test subject wasn't still lurking around somewhere. I didn't want to run into that thing.

We turned a few more times whenever we came to another split off, and eventually we had come back to a familiar one- the first I had passed on my way into the factory. This time I was in the lead, and we ran down the left side until we came to the open door that lead into the first storage room. I looked up to see the hole I had dropped in through earlier.

"You first." Kurtis said. I pulled a small crate under the hole and jumped up to grab the edge of the hole. I climbed up onto the roof. Once we were both up there, we began our escape at full speed. The voices of guards were louder now- but thankfully, they didn't see us. Otherwise, they'd be shooting. We glided down all the ladders, jumped off the rooftops whenever it wasn't too high, and eventually made it back to Building 1. I peered over the edge for the first pipe I had climbed up. I knelt down and backed up off the ledge, getting a grip on the pipe. I didn't bother descending it carefully- I just loosened my grasp and slid all the way down until I hit the ground. Finally, we were on the other side of the barbed fence that enclosed the entire base.

I was completely out of breath. So was Kurtis.

"Well..." he said, panting. "...that was fun, wasn't it?"

I tried not to laugh, I was still bemused at whether I wanted to trust him or not, but I couldn't help myself. "You look like crap, you know."

"Do I?" Kurtis asked rhetorically. He smirked. "Well, I sure hate to admit it, but after all that, you really don't look half bad."

I blushed, recognizing the compliment. I hope he didn't see my face when I did. I turned away quickly and looked back up at the factories. "We should get away from here before they come through the gate." I suggested, turning back to seriousness.

"Good idea."

_**-x-**_

It didn't take long to get back to the hotel. I told Kurtis to wait outside, and I climbed back up into my room through the window as I had done before. I changed quickly into regular clothes and put away all my gear. Then I walked out the door, locking it behind me, and went down to the lobby.

I opened the front door and motioned to Kurtis to come in. I almost forgot to think twice before I did, for as he walked in a red flag went up in my mind, reminding me of that nice, shiny gun that settled casually in the holster that slung around his shoulders. I hoped he wouldn't get busted for wielding it.

Rina was still at the main desk. If I hadn't been mistaken, I noticed her eyes taking a quick glimpse at Kurtis, clearly lingering over the gun at his side, although he himself didn't seem to notice. But the elder quickly looked back at me with her wise, welcoming eyes and pulled off a warm smile.

"Good evening, Rina." I greeted her. "May I ask for a favor?"

"Yes, anything for you."

"This is my..." I looked at Kurtis for a moment to find the right word to call him. I wasn't really sure if it was right to say he was a companion, I hadn't seen him in seven years. But what else could I say? "...my friend. Kurtis, this is Rina."

They greeted each other, and I continued. "Would you mind lending him a room for the night?"

"No, Lara, it's okay. I'm probably gonna be up all night, I won't need any sleep..." Kurtis modestly tried to object. But I could see right through him- and he was exhausted.

"No, no it fine, it fine. I give you room next door, for free." Rina butted in, still smiling. I couldn't help but flash a slight grin in response, to no one in particular. She was so nice and caring, and although her English wasn't pronounced too well, I found it extremely sweet that she at least tried, for the sake of her guests. She handed the room keys to Kurtis. He wasn't up for an argument, so he took the keys and thanked her.

We wished Rina a good night, and went to the elevators. It was nearly midnight, so thankfully there wasn't anyone else waiting.

I pushed the button that brought us to the third floor.

"You know you really didn't have to do that." Kurtis said to me once we started down the hall.

"Of course I did. I owe you one. For saving my life."

"Hmm...Fair enough." Kurtis gave in after a moment and shrugged. He opened the door to his room.

"Good night."

_**-x-**_

I woke up to the bright sunlight streaming in through my window. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the clock. It was almost 10.

After getting washed and changed, I headed out the door to get some late breakfast downstairs. But I was stopped when my PDA rang. I picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Lara. It's Zip."

"Oh, it's good to hear from you. I completely forgot to call when I got back."

"Yeah, I got kinda freaked when the headset turned off. No signal there, huh?"

"I suppose not. How's Angela doing, by the way? She hasn't been causing you any trouble, has she?"

"Nah. She's behaving, not setting anything on fire at least..." He chuckled quietly, in his usual laid-back tone. "But some cops came by last night looking for her. Don't worry, I took care of them. Sent them off somewhere else. How've you been doin'?"

I briefly summarized everything that had taken place the night before. And I told him about Kurtis.

Zip let out a deep sigh. "..._Wow_. Sounds like one hell of a night. But you didn't find anything?"

"No, unfortunately. We were almost caught before I had the chance." I admitted. "I have to go back."

"_Tonight_? Damn, you're crazy."

"What? I've been sitting around doing nothing, and I need that information."

"Lara, you haven't taken a day off in _years, _what are you talkin' about?" Zip objected. "Take a break for once, will you? Spend a day to just chill for a while."

I shook my head. I could not believe I was getting into this argument. "I will...When I'm finished with all of this." I could just imagine Zip ignorantly rolling his eyes at me. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to get something to eat- I am bloody starving. I'll ring you later."

I locked my door behind me, and began down the hall. I stopped when I past Kurtis's door.

"Kurtis?" I asked, knocking quietly on the door. I tried turning the handle. It was locked.

No answer. "Kurtis? It's Lara." I repeated.

I waited for a minute, then heard him quietly shuffling about in the room, and finally the click as the lock came undone. Kurtis opened the door, rubbing his eyes. He looked as if he had just stumbled out of bed, his dark, shaggy hair ruffled and messy.

I felt my face get warm as it dawned upon me that the only item of clothing he wore were his cargo pants from the night before. Though I'd seen that his build was evidently well constructed through the fabric that fit snugly on him, I hadn't realized how toned he was until then, with his entire torso completely exposed...

"...Yes?"

His voice caught me by surprise. "I, uh, sorry...did I wake you?" I apologized, stammering and quickly veering my eyes back to his face, and hoping desperately that he didn't catch me.

"No, it's fine, I was just getting up anyway." Kurtis replied, trying to pull off a smile. It still felt a bit strange to be talking to him. I almost didn't know what to say. We'd never actually held a regular conversation before. An awkward air hung between us for a moment.

"Well...I was...just about to go down for breakfast." I stuttered. Once again, I felt like an idiot, and this time I didn't have a single reason to ignore it. "Are you...?"

"Yeah. I'll be down in a minute." Kurtis interrupted, saving me from going any further. "Meet you there."

I went downstairs to the small cafe by the lobby. It was just as finely decorated as the foyer, gold and red engravings in the walls, bamboo plants, and floral-smelling incense. It wasn't too large, but it was enough room to be filled up with plenty of people. The majority of them were from around here, except for maybe two or three couples who appeared to be from out of the country.

I looked for an empty table and sat down at the one in the corner. It was right under the tall windows, which let in plenty of light. The radiance of the sunshine felt warm on my face. It was gorgeous outside, and I felt horrible that I wasn't going to be able to enjoy it. I was too focused on getting back to the factories, and that wasn't the only thing.

My mind was filtering through so many things at once- I was worried about my friends back at home, I kept hoping that our visitors from the other night wouldn't be coming back anytime soon. I wondered about all the possibilities there were behind the murders, and if the Genesis project had anything to do with them.

I thought about the victims- I thought about Rosalie. The poor girl had her whole life ahead of her. I couldn't even imagine what her sisters and parents were feeling. I was infuriated at whoever was committing the crimes. And just thinking about anger made me even more furious, at other people who'd made my life miserable.

The Doppelganger suddenly came back to mind- she'd caused so much trouble, destroying my home, killing my friend, and trying to kill me as well. Despite all she'd done, I knew she had no choice but to do what she was told, and I somehow wound up helping her in the end. I still wasn't sure whether or not it was a wise decision to have freed her as I'd done, and whether she were a friend or a foe; she was a complete mystery. She was my shadow, my counterpart, roaming freely out in the world...And despite the chill it gave me whenever I thought that there was a lethal, superhuman replica of me who could be living amongst the crowds of innocent civilians, there was nothing I could do about it.

And of course, the events of last night. It all kept replaying in my head. The experiment victim, the room with the seemingly beautiful but truthfully poisonous water...and Kurtis. I couldn't stop thinking about him. Why and how I had met him again after so long, and especially at a time like this. It was as if someone were planning everything to tie in like this.

I wasn't exactly angry with him any longer- now I was just curious. I wanted to know what he'd found out about the Genesis projects, but at the same time I also wanted to know him, and just him, as a person. All the words we'd ever spoken to one another were always about the dangerous situation at hand, always bantering and explaining things about the enemies we both shared. But I don't think anyone could blame me for not getting to know him before lending out my trust- he was, in fact, a bit of a last-minute alliance.

There was so much we didn't know about each other, and out of all the many people I've met in my life, Kurtis seemed to be the most obscure and fascinating of them all. A complete stranger. There was just something to him that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Then again, there were a _lot_ of things about him that were just as concealed and mysterious as the next.

I began feeling stressed and overwhelmed again. Zip was right. I had to stop over-thinking everything. But I couldn't. It's felt impossible to stop thinking about endless things, ever since my latest dangerous endeavor, which resulted in much more than I agreed to. Every thought led to another, and that same cycle repeated itself over and over in my head.

I place my elbows on the table and rested my face in my hands. Only seconds later, I heard someone's footsteps near me. I looked up. It was Kurtis. He'd gotten cleaned up, but unfortunately I'd forgotten that he didn't have any other pairs of clothes with him, and I felt guilty that I'd stuck him with the same filthy outfit as the day before.

"You alright?" He asked as soon as he knew I noticed his presence. He looked worried.

"Yes...I'm fine. It's nothing." I lied. My head was really starting to ache. Kurtis wasn't deceived one bit. He sat down next to me and put his hand on my shoulder. I knew it was meant as a caring gesture, but I failed to keep myself from becoming tense at this slight contact.

"Lara, don't lie to me." Kurtis warned. He was dead serious. I was slightly stunned at how much concern he had for me. "If something's wrong, you need to tell me." How he did it, I didn't know, but it was simply impossible to fool him.

"It's just a headache. I told you, it's nothing." I repeated myself. "What's wrong with _you_? Why so serious all of a sudden?"

Kurtis's stern expression softened a bit. "Just...making sure everything's okay." He smiled at me again.

I hated it when he gave me that look- it was a great smile. It made me feel as though I couldn't think about any other thing except for him. And those eyes- they were the most vibrant shade of perfect blue, like I'd never seen before. My attention was immediately drawn to them the very first time I'd come face to face with him. I never wanted to be caught in his stare, as I was afraid of what it could mean. So many different things. Some things I certainly might not like, whatever they may be. But then there might be other things hidden somewhere deeper inside those flawless sapphire illusions that...

_No, Lara, do not even dare to think in such ways.._. I scolded myself silently. _This isn't going to get you anywhere_.

I forced myself to look away from him. "Hungry?" I asked, changing the subject and picking up the dainty-looking menu off the table.

"Yeah." He paused. "Starving."


	5. Found and Lost Again

**Found and Lost Again**

By the time we'd gotten our food, it was already 11 'o clock. It was silent between the two of us at first, but then we'd slowly began to spend the next hour in the cafe just talking- about the most random things. Debating over sports, casually making comments about other people in the cafe, and even sharing some experiences that had taken place in the past few years. But to my surprise, not a single word was spoken about Genesis, or any other serious and otherwise dangerous situations ahead of us. We just talked- not as complete strangers or secret alliances, but...friends. Just friends.

In the middle of our discussion, my PDA rang in my pocket. I jumped in my seat, startled by it. I took it out of my pocket and read the caller ID.

I peered back up at Kurtis. "I'm sorry, but I have to take this. It's Zip."

"I understand. Go ahead." He replied, taking a sip of coffee.

I put the phone to my ear. "Zip?"

"No...it's Angela." She sounded almost as if she were out of breath.

"What's wrong?" I asked, beginning to feel fretful. I was making Kurtis feel worried as well- he was watching me intently as I spoke to the phone.

"Lara...they were here..." Angela began. "They tried to kill us."

My head felt hot. "Who? Are you all okay?"

"No, we're...we're okay. I held a few of them off, but Winston...he's hurt. It was all so...horrible. We got him to the hospital." Angela stumbled over her words, cutting the end of each one short. My eyes began to sting. Oh, God. "There was a woman. She told them to attack us. I didn't know who she was, but the others did. And a man. A man was with them." Then she paused, as if she were too frightened to continue. "He said he'd be back, Lara. He's coming back for _me_."

I was dumbfounded. When would this ever end? "You and Zip...you stay with him, alright? Tell Zip to call the plane services immediately. I'm coming back as soon as I can." Before I hung up I barely managed to add one more thing. "Please, be careful. And take care."

"You too." Angela whispered.

I slipped the PDA back in my pocket.

"What happened?" Kurtis asked, his eyes already full of distress. I knew he could feel my pain.

"Kurtis, I...I have to get back to England." I murmured. I got out of my seat. "I'm sorry."

"Wait-" Kurtis stopped me, and then he thought for a second. "If you don't mind, I'd like to come along."

_**-x-**_

A couple of hours later, I had already gotten all my things together, and given Rina my farewell. I thanked her for everything, and she wished us luck.

Kurtis and I got to the airport, and sat on a bench on the interior of the building, with my one bag of luggage. We sat in silence for a while.

"Are you sure you want to come? You don't have to..." I finally said. "...You don't have any of your belongings, and-"

"Lara." Kurtis interrupted me. I didn't even mind. I didn't want to talk anymore. He looked at me with understanding. "Everything's going to be fine."

I knew he was only saying that to comfort me, but still it made me feel the slightest bit better.

"I know. But..." I stopped. My eyes became blurry. "I can't lose anyone else, Kurtis. So many people have died. So many..."

A single teardrop slid down my cheek. I wiped it away instinctively. I absolutely hated it when other people saw my emotions. It just wasn't like me at all, to show any pain, any sorrow. It made me seem so...weak. The only thing that used to ever bother me about that was just appearing that way, and that's why I usually kept it all to myself, to prove that I _was_ as tough as nails. But over the past few months, every passing day it grew more difficult to keep up my naturally hardcore, fearless attitude. Because now I didn't only look weak- I felt it, too.

Then Kurtis did something I might have been uncomfortable with earlier, but now I didn't care. I needed the comfort, and he gave me just that. He wrapped his arm around me- hesitantly, at first -but then holding me tight. It was something that a good friend would do. It made me feel all warm inside, and suddenly I no longer felt alone.

_**-x-**_

Later, once we were on the plane, I could hardly remember anything. Once again I started thinking about different things, but without so much focus. Eventually I had fallen asleep, or dozed off, anyway, at some point. A long time passed by, but I was awakened by a soft tapping on my shoulder.

"We're here." Kurtis whispered to me. I gathered my belongings, and we headed for the Oxford Hospital.

We walked in, and immediately I spotted Zip by the waiting room. He himself appeared to have obtained some minor injuries, mostly just cuts on the side of his face that had been taken care of. We'd all been through a rough day. I hastily gave him a hug.

"I'm so glad to see you're okay." I said in relief, giving him one last squeeze before I left the embrace. Then I turned to Kurtis. "Zip, this is Kurtis."

Zip squinted briefly, looking upwards as though trying to remember something. "Kurtis?" He cocked his head towards me. "Didn't you work with someone named Kurtis a few years ago?"

Embarrassed and a bit surprised that he had recalled that information so quickly, I impatiently evaded the question. "We'll talk about it later, okay?"

As they introduced themselves to one another, my eyes wandered about the room. There was no sign of Angela.

"Where's..." I began to ask. Kurtis cut me off.

"Angela?"

I gave him an utterly baffled expression. He couldn't read my mind, could he?

I stared at Kurtis, but it turned out he wasn't talking to me. He was looking somewhere else. I turned around, and, sure enough, Angela was standing a few feet behind me. I observed her for a split second to see that she, too, had the same types of injuries as Zip, but I noticed she had a bit more drastic one on her upper arm. It was wrapped in bandages that showed a bit of dried blood that had seeped through, and a dark bruise surrounding the area. She looked like she'd just seen a ghost.

Before I could ask how she was doing, her face turned deathly pale. "Oh...My...God." Angela breathed. She walked up to us. "Kurtis?"

Me and Zip exchanged puzzled looks. He was just as perplexed as I was.

"You...know him?" Zip questioned Angela. She couldn't take her eyes off of Kurtis.

"Do I _know_ him!" She exclaimed. And finally she turned to us, jabbing a finger at Kurtis. "He's my _brother_!"

I gazed back and forth between the two of them.

_My god. _The picture. The picture of Angela and her brother.

It was Kurtis.

"Why didn't you ever tell me you had a sister?" I asked him. None of this was making any sense.

"I...I don't..." Kurtis looked for words to speak.

"You...you're alive...you're _alive_..." Angela muttered, unable to keep herself steady. The heavy makeup surrounding her eyes started trickling down her face, leaving behind thin lines of brown and black, along with the tears washing it away.

Kurtis stepped closer to Angela and embraced her. I stood back and watched. Now I could see the resemblance; the deep brunette hair, although Angela's was visibly darker, she'd probably dyed it black at some point in her teenage years and it'd washed away, revealing her natural brown roots. Even the features of their faces were now visibly similar, like their nose and chin. And their eyes- they were dead ringers of one another; both a captivating, electric blue.

I could tell Angela was in far more shock than I was the other night. Far, _far_ from it. I remembered what she had told me a few days ago when I'd met her, that she hadn't seen her brother since she was barely thirteen years old. How long would that have been? Nearly fifteen years?

Angela sobbed on her brother's shoulder. Kurtis didn't shed a tear, but his eyes were distant and blurry. We waited another moment or two, and finally he released her.

"Zip," I broke the silence, but still keeping my voice gentle. "Where's Winston?"

A nurse lead the four of us to the room where Winston was being kept. I sat on the stool beside his bed and took his feeble hand in mine.

"Winston, can you hear me? It's Lara." I said. He partly opened his wise, elderly eyes and looked at me.

"Lady Croft...it's good to see you." Winston greeted me, his voice feeble and raspy. He managed to give me weak smile. His hand was shaking.

"What...what exactly happened?" I asked the others.

"He was shot. Twice, in the back." Zip said. "The doctor said that it wouldn't usually be fatal but...his age makes a difference." His look shifted from concerned to downright disgusted. He looked as if he were about to punch someone in the face. "It was her, Lara. That God damned little friend of yours."

"_Who_?"

"Amanda."

My head felt as though it were about to explode, and once again, tears stung my eyes. But this time it wasn't just because of my distress for Winston. Now my anger was boiling.  
_Amanda_. I should have guessed.

Winston coughed. I held his hand tighter. "Winston, you're going to be alright. I promise."

He coughed once more. Then smiled at me again. "You're so much like your father, you know." He began. "You may look like your mother, but Richard...you take after him. I remember all those years ago, when he got that phone call from you in Nepal...he was so worried. For both you and your mother." He took a deep breath. Just talking was making him weaker.

"Winston, don't say anything. You can tell me later." I insisted. I bit my lip to keep my eyes from overfilling. I had to be strong.

"No, Lara. There won't be a later, I'm afraid." Winston said calmly, as if it meant nothing to him. I cursed myself for mentioning that. He continued after a moment of regaining his breath. "Lara, a while before your father was..." He stopped, being careful not to say what I knew what he was going to. "...before he passed away, he gave me this." Winston reached for the table beside us, and grabbed something small. He placed it my hand. "He told me to give it to you when I felt you needed it most."

I opened my hand. It was a little, silver locket, in the shape of a heart. I turned it over. On the back, there was one tiny word engraved in cursive lettering: _Amelia_.

I gasped. I remembered it, from a long time ago. My mother had given it to me when I was young, and I always wore it. It used to belong to her, as it was given to her by her own mother. I thought I'd lost it during the plane crash in the Himalayas. I opened it up. Still, just as I had last seen it, there was a picture of my mother inside.

"Where did you find it?"

"Richard visited Nepal a few months later, do you remember? He was searching for your mother...and came back with the necklace." Winston explained. "He kept it with him from then on, until just after your eighteenth birthday. He was going to give it back to you as a gift, but then made a sudden decision out of worry to let me decide when you should have it. It was almost as if he knew everything that was going to happen..." He kept pausing after every few words, sounding more exhausted with each one he spoke. "It was just days before he went missing."

Winston choked on a few more violent coughs. Seeing the forlorn expression on my face, he took my hand again and squeezed it ever so gently.

"Lara..." He said softly, his calm, silvery eyes looking into mine. It was so quiet, yet I could hear it perfectly. The way he said my name made me realize that this was it. I couldn't hold it back anymore. One tear after another came running down my face as Winston's hand went frighteningly cold and loose. After having him by my side throughout my entire life, every moment he'd been the most truly loyal companion to both me and my parents, and being the closest thing I ever had to family, it was all over.

He was gone.

_**-x-**_

I couldn't sleep. Every time I began to doze off, there was some thought or idea that kept popping into my head. And I was burning up- it felt unbearably humid in my room. Sure, I loved the summer, and usually I found that the heat was somehow exhilarating, but tonight it was just plain disgusting. I'd tried everything to make it cooler; open all the windows, turn on the air conditioning, and pull off all my bed covers. I was wearing nothing else but lightweight shorts and a thin, silky tank top, but even that didn't help.

I laid on my bed for a few more minutes, but then I couldn't take it anymore. I opened my door and went out into the hallway.

I passed a few doors on my way to the stairs- the library which had been infiltrated the other night, Angela's room, Zip's room was downstairs...

I stopped at Kurtis's room. Of course I'd been generous enough to let him stay in the mansion with us. But I noticed something peculiar when I walked by. I saw a slight crack in the door. It was open.

I didn't dare look inside the bedroom, but I couldn't help but open the door a bit more.

"Kurtis?" I whispered. I stood as silent as possible for a moment. I couldn't hear any breathing or movement whatsoever in the room. I closed the door again, just leaving the opening as much as it had been before, and proceeded down the stairs to the front hall.

The grandfather clock by the fireplace read 4:45. Great. It was almost 5 am and I hadn't gotten any sleep. It was still dark outside. I made my way across the foyer and then turned to the kitchen.

I went inside and got out a glass from the cabinet. I put in some ice and filled it with water.

As I sipped from the glass, my eyes fell over a newspaper on the table. I picked it up and read the headlines. It was about another murder- but it wasn't Rosalie Fuller. It had just happened mere days ago.

I became absorbed in the article. A young man was found slaughtered in his college dorm two days ago- just after I'd left for Japan. His roommate had walked in just after it happened. The murderer was still in the room when he'd come in, and he'd almost been killed as well. But the killer was unsuccessful in his second attempted murder that night, and the victim's roommate survived. Neighbors of their dorm had heard some commotion, and called the police. But by then the criminal had gotten away. The witness tried to remember everything that had happened, but claimed he felt as though he'd been washed of his memory after passing out. The only thing he could recall was blood, lot's of it, and that the murderer was the "creepiest man he'd ever seen". He described him briefly, with all he could remember, as "tall and shadowy" and that he had "scars on his face." But that was pretty much it, which was unfortunate.

The witness had been the very first survivor of these attacks.

"Lara?"

I jumped in alarm. I dropped my cup of water, and it went crashing to the ground. The glass shattered into a thousand little fragments. I looked towards the sound of the voice. It was only Kurtis.

"_Bugger_!" I exclaimed, stepping hastily away from the mess on the floor.

"Ouch..." Kurtis said quietly, referring to the broken glass. "Sorry."

"It's fine, I'll...clean it up later."

"So..." He started. "You couldn't sleep either?"

I nodded. Even in the dim environment around us, I could still clearly see his bright eyes gazing at mine.

"I'm sorry. About Winston. And everyone else you had to lose." Kurtis said sincerely. "God. And I thought _my_ life was hard."

"How did you know about the others?" I inquired. I kept myself preoccupied from looking at him by carefully pushing away some of the glass with my bare foot.

"Uh, you kind of took a nap in the car...remember?" Kurtis reminded me. He paused to let me recall the memory for a moment. Oh, gosh. I sure as hell remembered now. I was sitting in the back seat of the van with Angela and him, and I'd woken up to find that I'd fallen asleep with my head on his shoulder. Talk about _awkward..._

Kurtis smirked when he saw the expression on my face that told him I knew what he was talking about. "Well, Zip was telling me all about what's been going on for the past few months. I could hardly believe it. I had no idea your life was anywhere close to that painful."

I hadn't really been paying attention to where Kurtis was standing, but if I weren't mistaken, I could have sworn he was at least three feet farther from me before. I looked up instinctively, and I regretted it immediately. Once again I was merely caught in that penetrating gaze, and I couldn't make myself turn away. I was alarmed at how close we were standing to one another. So close I could hear his quiet, steady breathing. Suddenly I felt unnervingly exposed to him, in my shorts and loose tank top. I stood there for a few seconds more, but tried to get his attention on something else. The article.

I blinked and pulled my eyes away from him. I reached for the newspaper and handed it to him.

"What's this?" He said, scanning through the article.

"There's been a series of murders around this area, for quite some time now." I elaborated. "I talked to one of the federal investigators working on the case the other day, and he told me some things that were a bit more than I bargained for..."

Kurtis gave me a suspicious look. He didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

So I continued. "He said all these victims were either friends or family of the ones who'd been murdered all those years ago, in Paris and Prague. You remember that, don't you?"

Kurtis didn't answer me. He just stared at the end of the article with a concentrated look on his face. He was thinking.

"This man..." He started, slowly, still not looking up from the paper. "...sounds pretty damn familiar. No, it couldn't be..."

"What?" I said loudly, wondering why he was becoming so skeptical.

"Never mind." He said quickly. "We'll talk about it in the morning."

"Well," I chuckled. "Technically, it's already morning." I joked, motioning to the clock on the stove. Kurtis gave me a blank stare. I wanted to argue further, but I decided not to waste my time. I decided to switch topics for the time being. "Angela told us she was clairvoyant. I guess it makes a whole lot more sense now that I know you're her...her brother."

Kurtis smiled at the mention of his sister. "I thought she was dead after all those years. I never imagined she could have made out there on her own...she was barely a teenager."

"You left her when she was thirteen?"

"Yeah. I was almost eighteen at the time. I regret leaving her behind...she was just a kid."

"Then why did you?" I inquired. This was probably the only time I'd get to ask such questions from him.

He briefly offered to help clean up the mess on the floor. I grabbed the supplies and listened to him as we carefully gathered the shards.

"Since I was three years old, my father trained me as an initiate of the Lux Veritatis. Every moment of every day, up until I was about seventeen. By then I'd practically mastered my most important abilities, learned everything I really needed to know, but none of what I didn't. Yet. But the training had gotten so intense in those years, and I didn't want to commit myself to it anymore. The Cabal has always been hunting us down, because we fought against everything they believed in. Other than Angela, I was my father's only child, so he depended on me to become a great leader." Kurtis explained. I didn't say a word. "They all said I had so much power for someone so young, and just for that, they took pity on my sister, for being one of the weakest in my bloodline. She never had an active ability. Her visions are so limited between the times of when she sees them and when it actually happens, that everyone passed her off as just a regular, amateur psychic, like all those others out in the world."

"Is she?" I asked.

Kurtis sighed. "I hate to say it, but yes. Clairvoyance comes from farther back on my mother's side. Her grandparents were psychics. My father was never around to take care of me and Angela. At first when I decided to get away, I was about to take her with me. But the world was too much of a dangerous place for her, and I left her behind, hoping I'd made the right choice. I thought she was safe, but a few years later when I'd tried to go back, she was nowhere to be found. Everyone thought she had been killed. So Angela never went through the training. Because she was the only member of my family who isn't a Lux Veritatis. She has the blood in her, but not enough. I wouldn't be fooled, though. Just because she isn't some...mind freak, like me, doesn't me she won't put up a fight."

"Oh, Kurtis, you're not a mind freak. You're just..._special_." I teased, grinning. Thankfully Kurtis lightened up for the moment as well. "I remember you told me in Prague, that your father was killed not too long before we met, by Echkardt. You said it was what kept you going. That it was your way of getting..._justice_. But whatever happened to your mother? Is she still alive?"

Kurtis took a deep breath, becoming strictly serious again. "No. My mom was murdered a few weeks after Angie was born. By members of the Cabal."

I felt as though someone had just cut through my chest with a dagger. I hated hearing how everything ended up like this. "I'm so sorry. For you and Angela. My God...you were so young. Neither of you even got to know her, did you?"

Kurtis shook his head. "No, we didn't. I was barely five years old. And everything that's happened is all because of the damned Cabal. There were battles between the higher superiors of both Orders. They took what rightfully belonged to us, we fought for it. They did the same. And that's why I left. I joined the Foreign Legion by my eighteenth birthday, but afterwards I was just freelancing with a bunch of mercenaries for a while. And another regretful thing I have to admit...they all worked under authority of Marten Gunderson."

I flashed him an astonished look. "That man who tried to gun us down in the Louvre! You worked for him?"

"Hey, don't have to throw a fit over it. Not for long, but yes, I worked for him. Until I found out that he was just as psychotic as the rest of them. After my father was murdered by Echkhardt, I left the agencies. Gunderson had been helping him for...well, only God knows for how long. So since then I've just been roaming the world, probably not doing anything as exciting as you've ever done, but I have discovered a few things." He studied me again for a minute.

I looked back up at him after throwing the last of the glass pieces into the trash, thinking. "Lux Veritatis...that's Latin, isn't it?"

Kurtis smiled. "Correct. As always." He teased.

I smirked in return. "What does it mean?"

He spoke almost in a whisper, as if he were revealing a dark secret to me; "Light of Truth."

There was another quietness between us. "So..." I began, not liking the silence. "...are you hungry?"

Kurtis burst out in laughter.

"W...what's so funny?" I asked, not helping but to smile in return to his lighthearted exclamation.

"You always seem to ask that question whenever there's nothing else to say." Kurtis said, grinning. He kept laughing after that. I let it sink in for a moment, and realized he was right. I broke out in amusement as well.

Suddenly, all the lights in the kitchen switched on, demolishing the dark shadows surrounding us, except for the dim light that the windows let in. I blinked a few times, wondering if Kurtis had pulled the switch on the wall nearby. It was possible, as he could make anything move without touching it...but it happened so randomly. We bother turned towards the light switch. In the open doorway beside it stood a figure. It was Angela.

"Hey there." She said coolly, strutting casually into the room. Her dark, edgy hair appeared to have been already neatly straightened and brushed. But she obviously hadn't changed yet. She sported the loose, dark red top she had been wearing underneath her jacket the other day, but had exchanged the tights for grey sweats. And, somehow she'd managed to find the consciousness to reapply her Gothic eye-makeup after we'd come home last night. She looked as good as new, except for the bandages that remained on her arm. Apparently it was a number one priority of Angela's to look as dark and shadowy as she possibly could, at _all _times.

"Good morning, Angela." I said to her, the remnants of my laughter finally dying down. Then I looked back at Kurtis. "Do the two of you _always_ wake up at this time?"

"Ha, no way. Not Kurtis!" Angela answered before Kurtis could. "Well at least not willingly. I'd be up all night and have no problem making it through the morning. Kurt here on the other hand...well, I'd have to start slapping him to get _him_ up early."

"Not true." Kurtis objected.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Angela sighed at him.

I giggled again. I always wished I had a sibling when I was younger. I'd always thought it to be so funny to watch my friends bicker with their brothers and sisters. "No, really. Why'd you come down here?"

"Uh...I had a _vision_." Angela said sarcastically. "Nah, actually you two were being kinda loud. I could hear you laughing from all the way up in my room. And by the way, one of the floorboards keeps creaking each time I step on it. It's right next to the bed, too." She added on randomly.

"Oh. Sorry, we'll keep it quiet. I...didn't realize we were being so loud." I apologized for the noise. For some reason I had a strange instinct to look at Kurtis when I said it. He looked back at me with the same amused expression that I could have sworn hid some deeper mischievous look in his eyes.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Angela give the two of us an odd look, but let it quickly pass off.

"What time is it?" I asked.

Angela looked at the shimmery black watch on her wrist. "Like...almost 6?"

My jaw almost dropped. "You're kidding. I came down here at around 4:30..." But then I noticed that it had gotten a lot lighter in the room, even before Angela turned on the lights. And then, realizing how long I'd gone without any sleep, I suddenly felt the effects of it rest on me. I was beginning to feel tired. Well, it's nothing that a good, refreshing shower can't fix.

"I think I'll go freshen up now." I started out the door. I thought I heard Angela mutter something to Kurtis, but it was incomprehensible. I glimpsed over my shoulder as I walked out to see her playfully nudging him in the arm. Hmm. If I only I knew what they were talking about...

I guess I'd just have to wait to find out.


	6. Hidden Beneath the Ashes

**Hidden Beneath the Ashes**

I stepped out of the shower and grabbed the towel beside me to wrap around myself. I looked at the wristwatch that I'd left by the sink the other day. It'd only been about 20 minutes since I'd come upstairs.

I pulled the bathroom door open and stepped out into my bedroom. I might've been complaining about the small size of it compared to the one I'd previously had in Surrey, but then again, most people I knew would kill to have a room as decent as this. I didn't really care much about the fact that I was born into an aristocratic family, but it was definitely a positive plus to have so much wealth.

After a quick change into my regular combat boots, black pants, and a simple light blue blouse, I went back to the bathroom to brush out my tangled, wet hair. I tried putting it up in a ponytail, but it looked too awkward while it was still wet. So, instead, I went with a long braid. It gave me a familiar sense of my old self, and once I felt confident that I'd gotten it right, I headed out to my room once again and out the door.

The moment I stepped on the first step of the staircase, I heard laughter. I continued down the steps and paused for a moment to figure out where they all were. I turned my head towards Zip's bedroom. The door was half way open. I proceeded through to his room, and there he was, along with Kurtis and Angela, crowded around the TV on his makeshift sofa. Angela was laughing her head off as the other two were yelling words of randomness that I hardly understood.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked. Angela, who was seated on the back of the couch, turned half way around to see me. She continued laughing, and, without even seeing it coming, fell off the sofa.

"Ha ha ha! You guys _suck_ at this game!" Angela chuckled, struggling to get up in a sitting position on the floor. I looked away from her and back at the television set. Zip and Kurtis were taking turns facing off in...well, some sort of game. Then I took another minute to realize what it was. _Guitar Hero_. Go figure.

"Shit! That was the third damn time in a row!" Kurtis chucked the 'guitar' back at Zip and grunted as he fell back onto the couch. I rolled my eyes. _Wow. So maybe Kurtis wasn't so different after all_, I thought to myself in amusement. _Well, boys will be boys_.

As Zip got up to start a new song, I went in front of the screen to block his view.

"Hey! I'm gonna fail this song if you don't get outta the way!" Zip exclaimed. My strict expression didn't change.

"You have 3 seconds to shut this off, or _I_ will." I stated importunately. "One..."

"Okay, okay! _Jeez_, lady, just let me save it!"

"Two..."

Zip hastily pressed a few buttons on the controller, and finally turned off the console before I got to Three. "There! You happy now?"

The corners of my mouth curved up into a mocking smile. "Mm. Ecstatic."

Angela stood back up, finally relieved of her uncontrollable outburst, and jumped over the back of the couch to be seated beside the others. "So what's up?" She asked, beaming.

I took a seat on the nearby edge of Zip's bed. "I need to know everything you saw when I was in Japan. When they attacked."

The color flushed from Angela's face, and her cerulean eyes became sharper. "I...I don't know. There were maybe six or seven guys, mercenaries from the look of 'em. And then there was that man...and the other one. The woman." She began. "Zip said her name at the hospital, I think."

Zip nodded in response. "Yeah. Amanda...she was with them. She told them to get rid of us, but that was basically all she said. I think that guy was in charge or something...he did all the talking."

I let out a sigh. "I can't believe she's still against me after what we've been through. It never had to be this way..." Then I bit the inside of my lip as I paused for a minute. "What...what did he look like? The man?"

Zip and Angela exchanged worried expressions, both recalling the memory from the other day. "Tall. Scary. Strong...really, really strong." Angela started slowly, her eyes blurring over with dread. She reached over and grabbed her wounded arm with her other hand. I cringed when I realized that the injury had been inflicted by the man she spoke of. It was so strange to see her act that way- she was always such a punk, maybe even a little arrogant at times, but when she showed this side of her...it made me wonder. If maybe something about this reminded her of a nightmare...perhaps a haunted experience from her past. "He had dark hair, and...God, his eyes belonged to a demon. As clear and cold as ice."

Kurtis reached over and took hold of his sister's hand in reassurance.

"Hey, I just remembered somethin'." Zip broke in. "Just before they left, Amanda said something to him...I think she called him 'Callegar'?"

Kurtis glared at Zip with anger in his eyes. "Callegar." He said under his breath, being hardly audible. "That _bastard_..."

"What?" I questioned.

"Callegar! _Victor_ Callegar. He worked with me when I was in the Legion. We all thought he was a friend...but we thought wrong. He's insane. Nothing but a black-hearted psycho." Kurtis grumbled. "His father was a member of the Cabal."

An idea came to mind. Not one of my liking, but I knew it was possible. "The Cabal...does that mean he had the same intentions as his father did?" I began.

Kurtis nodded. "If you mean all that shit about the Nephilim, then yeah. He was one of them."

"That's what the experiments are for..." I thought aloud. I stared uneasily between the three of my friends. "It isn't over, Kurtis. Maybe he thought we knew something, or had something that he didn't."

"Like what?"

I reflected over any possible thing that I'd obtained or learned in the past few years that might have linked to the Nephilim. Excalibur was already put off that list days ago, there's no way it could have anything to do with this. Thor's hammer...again, completely irrelevant, and I didn't happen to forget that it was lost in the destruction of Helheim. I certainly knew I hadn't _heard_ anything about the Nephilim race in the past several years, so I didn't have any information. There were a few small relics here and there that I'd picked up since Kurtis and I parted all those years ago, but what could it be...?

I folded my arms over my chest. "I don't..." I rubbed my eyes and let out a deep exhale. "I really don't know. If Victor is a descendant of the Cabal and he'd be smart enough to infiltrate _my _home, of all others, then he knows that you're still alive."

"And Angela, too."

I nodded in stern agreement. Then I stood up and made my way to the door. "Zip, I need you to find out everything you can about this Callegar...and if he does have something to do with Genesis."

"Sure thing." Zip sighed. "Whatch'you gonna be doin'?"

"I'm taking a visit to Surrey for a few hours..." I said quietly. "...Perhaps there was something I missed."

_**-x-**_

I slowly came to a stop as I pulled up to the long driveway of Croft Manor. I assumed it was too early for the construction personnel to be working at this time, so there was no one else around.

I parked the motorbike and started towards the mansion. It was more than clear that it was under construction- caution tape surrounding the perimeter of stretched areas, stacks of wood and material piled off to one side, along with forklifts and machines sitting at rest nearby. As I approached the front double doors at the entrance, I noticed that they were different from the ones I'd last seen. The wooden doors had been replaced and polished with ones that were as good as new. I took a deep breath, feeling almost nervous to step inside my home again, and reached out with both hands to push open the doors.

I felt a wave of remembrance as I stepped inside. The entire foyer was cleaned of furniture, debris, and any other hint of previous life. As silly as it may sound, I felt the need to call out my voice to hear the echo through the grand, empty room. The house felt as though it were being stepped into for the first time. My eyes then stranded over to the left, and caught a glimpse of the stairs. They'd been fully rebuilt.

I walked down the open hall to the first step. I looked up above the stairs in front of me, and admired the tall, lightly stain-glassed window, that had also been replaced. Rays of sunshine beamed through, almost smiling down on me. Sighing once more as I placed my hand on the new railing, I made my way up the steps, then to the left up a few more to the landing. And, with another spark of anticipation, I went all the way down the balcony, through the last door on the right, and down another hallway. I stopped when I came before another door. And then I knew one thing- it lead to a place that I once called my bedroom.

I slowly pushed open the door. My room looked exactly as it had before the explosion. Without any furniture or decor, of course, but still, the same. I went past the vast living area in the center of my room to my walk-in wardrobe. I ran my fingers over the beautiful tracings and designs carved into the wood. It made me realize how much I missed this place. How much I missed my home. I was glad to know that a good portion of the estate hadn't even been touched by the destruction of the fire that had taken place two months ago, but being forced to stray away and live someplace else made me feel as though a part of me were missing. I was born in this city, raised in this home. A smile crept over my face as I reminded myself that soon I would be living here again.

I remained in my vacant bedroom for a few minutes more, but then remembered why I was here. I went back out into the first hallway and down to the front hall once again.

I then realized why the foyer seemed even larger than I'd expected it to be. Other than the furniture that had been removed, it dawned on me that the great glass walls of the earlier server room had also been taken down. I made my way across the room to where the walls had once been. The tech room was where Zip had kept all his expensive technology and dozens of computers...it was like his own little home within my mansion. I could still picture it all as it had been- two long, clear tables in a circle centered in the middle area of the room, covered in sticky-notes and computers, and all around them, multiple other devices and electronics, with two large screens displaying data on the upper walls. And two, lone doors on either side of the room. None of the equipment remained there, but the doors did. They still hadn't been replaced like the ones at the entrance.

This was where I needed be. I walked further into the area where the room had once been, towards the door on my right. As I did, I felt as though the air around me had gotten heavier. I barely noticed it, but it reminded me of the type of feeling you would get when you were outside on a humid or foggy day. Like the air was settling on your shoulders. But this felt much more...strange. And, with an awkward realization, I remembered it as the feeling I would get whenever I'm inside an ancient tomb. Sure, I always got that sensation of thrill and adventure, but just standing in the tomb of a deceased one allowed me to feel the presence. The presence of death. That was what I was feeling now.

With a sick, and almost nauseated feeling in my stomach, I knew I wasn't just hallucinating. I did feel death here, in this very spot, because I had attended a funeral for the friend that had died here. _Alister_.

I shuffled uncomfortably on my feet, and tried to shake away the thoughts as I came in front of the door. This wasn't the time to be mourning over something that had happened months ago. I swallowed hard before I slid open the door, still trying to forget the haunting sensation. It lead down into the Croft family crypt, which I had recently excavated more than once.

Thankful that I had brought all my gear with me, I turned on the small utility light attached to the strap of my backpack, and headed down the steps into the dark, untouched crypt. Vividly remembering the same routine I had gone through before, I immediately went over to my grandfather's stone coffin and reached under the side of it to flick a small switch that pushed the grave to the side to reveal more steps leading down to the chapel and my father's study.

It took an hour to finally get to the study. Last time I'd come down, I found that this place beneath the Manor didn't stop here. It seemed that it just kept going on and on...the secrets never stopped. That's why I loved my home so much. All my life I'd had to go out into the world to find adventure, when at the end of the day, I always had the choice to continue raiding tombs, all just beneath my mansion. It was like another world down there.

I strolled into the center of the study. All looked exactly as it did months ago. The old desk covered in miscellaneous objects, souvenirs and artifacts scattered about the premises, and the broken cages in which my father had brought back those Thralls from Thailand. I shivered at the thought of those monsters. And to think they were once living beings.

I stayed far away from the edge of the huge crack in the side of the floor. I'd found out that it lead much farther down below, where I'd found many more secrets...and many more Thralls. Chances were that there were still some down there. I didn't want to find that out first hand. No, I never wanted to go back down there again. The study was as far as I went...there was no need to explore any further anymore. But still, I kept my eye on the opening in the floor, and my hand close to my side, where I holstered my trusty dual pistols. Who knew what could come up through there again?

I placed my hands on the flat surface of the desk and lightly leaned on them. The tape recorder was still sitting in the center of the table, the one that my father had left for me years ago, and I'd only discovered recently. It had held some information that was of great help to me. I sighed as I closed my eyes for a minute. I needed to hear his voice again.

I reached over to the tape and pressed the rewind button. When it stopped, the play button clicked, and I pushed it down again.

"_Hello, Lara. Here in this room is everything we recovered from Bhogavati, Thailand_..." My father's familiar voice began. I'd heard this tape only once before, but I felt that I needed to hear it once more, despite having no further use. I walked around the desk, carefully picking up and dusting off some of the jars and antiques as I listened.

As the tape kept rolling, it stopped abruptly in the middle. It made a fuzzy, cracking noise, and then it just went blank. I turned away from the relics I'd been observing, and started back towards the desk. I pressed the rewind button again, and hit play...but nothing came. I picked up the recorder and proceeded to fiddle with it. I turned it over on the back and opened it. There was no tape inside.

"What in the name of-?" My sentence was cut short with a gasp when I felt the cold metal of a gun at the back of my neck.

"Looking for this?" I heard a voice behind me. I slowly turned around to face the offender. I gritted my teeth as I saw who, or rather, _what_ it was. I stared angrily into the haunted, glowing eyes of the Doppelganger.

She hadn't changed a single bit. Still my mirror image- but more frightening. Her skin was deathly pale, showing faint Atlantean designs that run down her arms and neck like veins. Her hair was a dark, blood red, long and braided like mine. She even wore the exact same outfit I had last seen her in- black leather pants tucked into a pair of dark combat boots that looked almost identical to mine, along with a matching black tank top. And, of course, her own replica of my dual pistols, one of which she held close to my face.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I grumbled, keeping my hands close to the grips of my pistols.

With her free hand, the Doppelganger held up the small tape she had managed to steal from the recorder. "The same reason as you." She tossed the tape aside, still holding me at gunpoint.

"You're not going to shoot me, are you?" I asked irritably, eyeing the gun with an obvious tone of annoyance. The Doppelganger slightly cocked her head to one side, then, with no hesitation, holstered her gun and took a step back.

I found it so strange how she never seemed to notice anything else around her. Whenever she's focused on something, she stays focused on it. She didn't even hesitate as she kept her eyes on mine, waiting patiently for me to speak to her. Almost like a dog who'd been trained to stay seated whenever it's owner said so.

"Well?" I finally said. Her expression didn't change. She kept looking at me as if I still hadn't said anything. I sighed, getting a bit aggravated. "_What-are-you-doing-here_?" I repeated myself, emphasizing each word.

The Doppelganger blinked innocently at me. "Weren't you looking for something?"

"No...well, yes. Where've you been? You haven't been causing any trouble, have you?"

She shook her head. "No. I've been here." She said, motioning calmly to the room around us.

"Here? You've been living here, under my Manor, for the past two months without any food or water?"

"I don't need it. I've told you before, I have no flaws. _Needs_ are flaws." The Doppelganger stated simply. Seeing the suspicion on my face, she continued. "You're not going to find it here, you know."

I curiously shot her a speculating look. "Find what?"

"I found it in your room the other day. There was no one else here." The Doppelganger began. I had no idea what she was talking about. "It was hidden very well, somewhere in the floor. No wonder you forgot about it." She looked as if she still had more to say. "I brought it back down here...but it fell." She gestured towards the large break in the ground.

"What on earth are you talking about? What did you steal from my room!" I shouted at her. I whipped out my pistols and pointed them both at her. "Tell me, _now_, or I swear, you will regret that I ever even helped you." Though I was sure that a single bullet wouldn't do any harm to someone has strong as her, I felt that it was my only way to get her full attention. Either way, I probably wouldn't even be able to scratch her. She was too fast. She could take me out in seconds.

The Doppelganger, still with a steady, unchanging expression, walked casually over to the edge of the crack. "I can help you find it."

Why was she being so calm? I knew that it was just her nature to be acting that way, but I didn't know what to say. _She's just confessed to stealing something from my personal property and now she's telling me that she wants to help_ _me find it after she's let it out of her sight?_ I thought to myself, bewildered. _And, of course. It __**had**__ to fall down there_.

I lowered my guns slowly. I hesitantly slid them back into their holsters. I knew it was wrong to trust this being, now that she truly did have a mind of her own and could do as she pleased, but obviously she knew that I was coming here for a reason. And she knew about something...something that was apparently important amongst my possessions that even _I_ had forgotten about. What it could be, I didn't know.

"Fine." I said. And with that, I joined her at the edge of the opening, and slide down onto the slanted rock below. I got in front of her as we stopped at the landing on the ground. "But don't be trying anything. If you're lying to me, you _will_ regret it."

The Doppelganger nodded eerily, and continued down into the long cave. I followed, determined to find what she had lost. I had a feeling that it would help. Although I kept speculating over what it could possibly be, as the shadows engulfed us, I told myself that now there was no turning back.


	7. Confessions

**Confessions**

The massive, cave-like area deep beneath the mansion felt as cold and ghostly as it had months ago...but even more than that now. It felt like something from a nightmare long ago, one that reminded me of all the things I never wanted to know of again.

The Doppelganger walked soullessly a few feet in front of me, not bothering to even glimpse behind to see if I were still following her. After a minute or two of just walking down into the caves, I began to wonder why we'd gone so far.

"Wait." I said. The Doppelganger stopped in her tracks and slowly turned half way around to see me. I continued, sure of her full attention. "If you say that it fell down here...it must've fallen pretty far, don't you think?" I asked apprehensively. "I don't recall retrieving any artifacts that can grow legs and run far away into a cave."

For an obscure moment, a blank, almost uneasy expression passed my counterpart's eyes. It faded away as fast as it came. But only a moment too late. "You _do_ remember we are not the only ones down here." And she continued walking. _Oh, so now the Thralls are going about stealing all the lost goodies they can find? Well, __**that's**__ a first_.

"Could you at _least_ tell me what the damn thing is?" I finally snapped at her. I was beginning to feel more and more like this was some sort of trick. But with her, I just couldn't tell.

She didn't say a word. She just froze in her tracks, but never did she look back. Finally it was clear that something was up. I could only think to myself that something bad was going on. _I have to get out of here_.

Before I could give her the time to turn around and attack me, I turned on my heels with the intention of running back as fast as my feet would bring me. But when I did, I only ran as far to bump into a certain something that would only cause me more trouble.

The fleshless creature roared fiercely, baring its decayed, rotted teeth. It was twice as grotesque as the lifeless man I'd seen at the factories- and ten times more dangerous.

I backed up, pulling out my pistols in front of me, and began to fire. I aimed straight at the Thrall's head, and it stumbled back obliviously. Then it kept walking forward, pursuing me to continue back. I stole a glance behind my shoulder, still keeping my target on the Thrall. There were more of them crawling up from another deep break in the earthy floor. And the Doppelganger had disappeared.

My eyes widened in terror as I realized how many Thralls there were. Dozens. Maybe more. I shook it off for the second, and turned back to finish off the first one. I shot it, one, two, three times more, until it fell to the ground. I then spun swiftly back to the large, forming group with my guns pointing in either direction, ready to fire.

They all charged at once. I fired repeatedly into the crowd, letting out round after round of bullets. After the first row was down, I tried at another chance to get back to the entrance. I whirled around, feeling my heart beat faster, and readied myself to sprint back in the direction of which we came. But in a frantic run to the exit, I felt an unbearably freezing material grasp a hold of my foot, forcing me to trip straight forward.

I grunted as I hit the stone, scraping both of my elbows in turn and getting the wind knocked out of my chest. I cursed loudly as both of my pistols went flying from my grip from the impact of the fall, and they skittered across the floor. One stopped only inches before the end of the deep crack in the ground. The other, to my misfortune, tipped over the edge, and fell deep into the crevice.

My eyes darted frantically from my only weapon at the other side of the area, down to my leg from where I was being dragged along the ground. It was the skeletal hand of one of the Thralls coming up from the chasm. And it was pulling me down. At first, the touch of it was probably the most freezing chill I had ever felt, even through the thick material of my trousers, but I slowly realized it was beginning to smell of a burning aroma. The blue, acid-like liquid running through the remaining flesh of the Thrall now felt like it were searing through the cloth, and finally, boiling my exposed skin. I screamed madly at the smoldering feeling and heat of my own flesh, and I kicked with all the strength in my legs at the glowing, undead being. It only continued to groan monotonously as it pulled me further and further. As I clawed at the ground with my hands, I felt like a helpless child. The acid proceeded to eat away at me, and now the other Thralls were coming to help bring me to my death.

I didn't know what to do. I foolishly forgot to stash an extra knife in the cuff of my boot as I always would, and therefore, with no other possible makeshift weapon around me, the only thing I had to protect me was my own strength. But even that was slowly fading away. The tips of my fingers began to bruise right under the nails of which were scratching at the floor. Yelling until my throat hurt and scraping to my last layer of skin was all I could do. I'd known this was a trap. _But why? Why was I stupid enough to fall for this? It's just not like me to get so distracted like that..._ I reprimanded myself, not even trying to get away from the Thralls any longer. And, then, I realized, the pain in my foot was no longer increasing. The sound of gunfire brought me back from my thoughts.

The Doppelganger appeared out of the blue, and she looked like nothing but a flash of dark, blurry colours. And I remembered in that instant, how fast and strong she really was. The crowd of undead knight-Thralls was dying off in result of my counterpart's attack. I watched in awe as I saw for the very first time, the Doppelganger in full-fledged combat. All the other times I'd seen anything close to what she could do were when she was attempting to kill me by orders, in mere, calm, yet still strong, attacks. But now, seeing her in action like this, I was astounded. Swift, quick movements, all happening in the blink of an eye. Not a single one of the monsters came within three feet of her- and if they even came close to doing so, they would be shattered in seconds. In a matter of time that seemed to both slow down and speed up at once, all that remained in the shadowy, damp cave were faintly glowing bones and remnants of the Thralls. I remained on the ground, limp, weak, and damaged.

The Doppelganger turned slightly and caught sight of me. She knelt over, and, to my great shock, grabbed both my wrists with her own hands. I became suddenly aware at how frigid her touch was. She felt cold enough to be, herself, among the walking dead. She pulled me away from the edge where my legs dangled helplessly, and safely onto the solid stone floor. I tried to stand, but my leg let out on me.

Grabbing the top of my foot with my swollen hands, I looked up at the Doppelganger's face only inches away, with clenched teeth. "_Why_? Why did you _do_ this to me?" I spoke angrily, but in a hushed tone. She only stared back at my identical face, still sitting beside me. Knowing that I wasn't finished. "…Why did you help me?"

She tilted her head slightly to the side, and, finally, looked away from me at the ground. I thought I would never get away from her alarming but somehow innocent glare.

"I was deceived." She said after a moment.

My brows furrowed in confusion. "…What?"

"She told me to." Still no eyesight.

"_Who_ told you to?"

"The girl who betrayed you."

I rolled my eyes, and exhaled in frustration. "Amanda. Oh, of course. Who else would it _possibly_ be?" I muttered. Then I gave the Doppelganger a prompt, defiant stare of my own. "So she _told you_ to _kill me_? Why did you _listen_ to her? After all I've done to set you free?"

She looked back up at me with pleading eyes. In those few instances, she actually seemed, for once, _human_. And for the first time, I saw that her bright, golden eyes had no frightening glow emanating from them any longer. As I studied her face closer for a moment, I suddenly took in that her eyes, when not in their usual, unhumanly form, were almost the same colour as mine. It was a partially lighter hue of my own dark brown irises, but still, all the same.

She frowned in the most weak way I could ever imagine. "After you let me go, I went back to Yggdrasil…where Natla remained."

Good lord, I had completely forgotten about her. Why I didn't even remember any of this in the last few weeks, I couldn't figure out. Hatred continued to boil up through my throat at the mention of her. "Natla. Where…where is she now? Did you take care of her?" I asked, afraid of what the answer maybe.

"Yes. I did as you told me to. You asked for her to suffer, and so she did. Suffer." The Doppelganger replied solemnly, and to my relief. Well, my relief, until she continued. "…But she may have survived."

My heart dropped to my stomach as it twisted in disbelief. "_What_? She's still _alive_?"

"I didn't say that. I said she may have survived. But either way, if she did, she can't do anything. She will die off on her own time if she has not already. She's far too weak. Nothing can help her." The Doppelganger cut me off, maintaining an almost droning tone. Somehow I believed her words- and any how, that was the least of my worries. All I needed to focus on was Amanda.

"Alright. Forget about her. Now, what does this have to do with Amanda?"

"I stayed in Yggdrasil afterwards for a while, until I decided that it was time to leave. I went back up to the surface- and that was where I saw Amanda. She was dying." She paused, letting me process the information. I blinked, remembering how I'd left her in the cold, after she'd tried pummeling me to death. I thought she had gotten over all of it when she helped me return to Nepal…but apparently she didn't feel as though she was finished with me. I'd let out a few shots of lead into her knee, and, regretfully, I proceeded, leaving her behind.

The Doppelganger went on. "I helped her back to safety…and later she…thanked me. She began telling me about someone who she knew that could help me. I didn't know why I needed help from anyone, but she convinced me that we could both get revenge from what Natla had done to us. She introduced me to a man named Callegar. He told me he needed something that he couldn't find, that it was hidden in your home, and with my…abilities, I found it, and gave it to him." She stopped once more, knowing that I would be furious at her for tricking me. But I let her go until she was finished. "He then promised me his full trust and swore to help me get what I needed in return, under one condition- if I lured you down here to get rid of you."

I opened my mouth to say something, but shut it again until I could find the right words. "Why…why did he need to get rid of me?"

"So that you couldn't protect the others."

I shut my eyes for a second, knowing instantly what she meant. _So that I couldn't protect Kurtis and Angela_. I thought with a pain in my pulse. _So that he could kill them_.

"What did you give to him? Is that what you found in my bedroom? What you brought me down here to go searching for?"

She nodded gravely. "It belonged to him."

"Callegar?"

"Kurtis."

A dawn of complete stupidity came upon me. How had I forgotten about that? It was the five bladed, discus-like glaive that he wielded with telekinetic powers when I met him. When he disappeared, all I found was a pool of blood, and the disc laying in the center of it. I took it back with me, hoping it might have led me back to him, but it never did. Well, I suppose it _did_ eventually, just a couple, oh, seven years or so later? But once more, I felt even more empty in my train of thoughts, as I wondered how the Doppelganger knew his name. She noticed my bewilderment immediately.

"Callegar told me everything." Well, that just makes perfect sense.

"Where are they now, him and Amanda?"

The Doppelganger went back in her memory for the answer. "They went to the states. Nevada, if I remember correctly. I am to go there once I've finished you off."

I narrowed my eyes on her. "But you haven't."

She blinked a few times. "No, I haven't; I changed my mind, because it isn't right. And that's why I'm going to help you." She grabbed my arm, gently, and helped me get up to lean on one foot. I forced her to pause in her actions, giving her a look of suspicion. _How do I know you're not going to try and kill me again?_

Then, as if reading my thoughts, she stated, with her strange, ghost-like voice, "You can trust me." With that being said, she proceeded to put my arm over her shoulder for support, and we made our way back up to the surface.

_**-x-**_

_Angela awoke with a start. She was lying on the floor, and everything was hazy. Kurtis and Zip knelt over her in concern._

_"Are you alright? Damn it, Ang, answer me." Kurtis gently shook his sister's shoulder. She opened one eye, and sat up on her elbows._

_"God, Angie," Kurtis sighed in relief, helping Angela sit up straight. "I always hated when you did that when we were little. You had a vision, didn't you?"_

_Angela nodded. "Uh, yeah. And it was…not good." She mumbled slowly, trying to stand up._

_"Well, you can tell us la-"_

_"Lara's hurt." Angie cut him off anxiously. Zip and Kurtis immediately exchanged frantic faces, shocked by the sudden news._

_"What?" Zip butted in. "I thought she was back at the Manor in Surrey, how the hell could she've gotten hurt in her own home?"_

_"Hey, I don't know, I told you, I'm not a good psychic." Angela snapped. "But I know that we have to go over there and help her, alright?"_

_The three of them made their way out of Zip's lounge, and departed to the front lot. Zip grabbed his keys on the way out._

_Kurtis opened up the sliding side doors of the van, and he and Angela got inside. Zip hopped into the front seat and started the engine._

_"Do ya think you could drive a little faster?" Kurtis muttered impatiently to Zip after a while of driving._

_"Calm it, man, I'm already going 5 miles per hour over the speed limit." Zip replied. He looked suspiciously at Kurtis through the rear-view mirror. "Why the rush? You've already complained twice about my damn driving."_

_Kurtis glared back at the pair of dark eyes in the mirror. "Well, maybe your damn driving should push it up to 6, that way we might actually make it before Lara dies, why don't cha?"_

_Angela felt a painful wave of heat through her head. Her telepathy could feel the emotional vibe coming off of her brother._

_Zip raised an eyebrow at Kurtis when he glanced back up at the mirror. He was surprised at the words that came out of his own mouth."Feelin' a soft spot for Lara, huh?"_

_Kurtis's eyes went dull and dark, and full of anger. He said nothing in response, only stiffening his jaw and making a thin, tight line with his lips. He felt fury towards Zip for saying such a thing, but deeper inside he was even more embarassed than anything else. In such a hushed voice only he himself could understand, he murmured, "You have no idea…"_


	8. Damaged

**Damaged  
**  
I stumbled limply as the Doppelganger escorted me out the front doors of the Manor. She helped me sit down on the step at the entrance, resting my wounded leg.

I looked up at her, seeing that she didn't seem to be having any intention of moving from her spot.

"You can sit down, you know." I sighed. She looked at me with hesitation, but followed my request. She sat beside me on the low step.

A silence remained between us. I exhaled again, and reached down to the bottom of my calf. I unlatched the buckles on my torn boot and pulled it off to examine the injury. To my surprise, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. The top layer of skin, however, was disgustingly singed and simmered from the hot acid. There were a few red cracks and thin crevices that went slightly deeper beneath the surface, almost like a chapped lip, which was where the small lines of blood were coming from. But other than that, there was no permanent or truly severe damage. I figured a few bandages and a day's rest would heal it completely.

I put my boot carefully back on, keeping the clutches loose so they wouldn't suffocate the wound. I looked over my shoulder at the Doppelganger, who sat a foot or two away.

"Thank you." I said in a hushed voice.

She vaguely glimpsed in my direction, as if to say something in reply, but she turned back again and remained quiet. I wondered what was on her mind, but then again, her mind was much different from a human's. Who knows what kind of thoughts she experienced- or if she truly even had any.

We sat there, waiting for something to happen, I suppose, but I wasn't sure why. I was about to say that we should head back to the other mansion, when the sound of a car engine pulling into the driveway awoke me from my train of thought. We both looked up, and saw a black van; Zip's van.

The doors on both sides slid open, and Zip stepped out from the driver's side. Him, Angela, and Kurtis were all together. They began towards me, but stopped when they saw the Doppelganger. Kurtis and Angela looked between me and my counterpart in bewilderment, but Zip had already learned the difference between the two of us.

Angela looked Kurtis in the eye, and he looked back intently with a serious face. I began to wonder if they could speak telepathically with one another; I figured it was quite possible, seeing that their powers were binded together by blood. Angela gave him a slight nod, and Kurtis's hand went to the gun he kept at his side. I immediately stood up, putting as much weight as I could on my good leg, and threw my hands out in front of me.

"Kurtis! Don't you dare draw that gun!" I scolded him, trying my hardest not to fall over. But in my weak attempt, my foot let out on me once more, and I fell on my side again. "God damn it!"

Angela and Zip rushed to me, and Kurtis came just behind them. Once they helped me up, he stood in front of the three of us, making something of a barrier between us and the Doppelganger. My equivalent got up from her sitting position in alarm.

"Lara, what the hell is she doin' here?" Zip exclaimed, supporting me with my left arm as Angela took the other.

"Question is, what the hell _is_ it?" Kurtis garbled in response.

"Oh, would you two quit being such arseholes?" I snapped, remembering how much of annoying idiots men could be at times. "Kurtis, this is the Doppelganger that Zip told you about. Just step away. She won't hurt you, I promise, but if you give her a reason to, she _will_ kill you." I explained hastily.

He looked back at me, his azure eyes swimming with a building fury. "Oh yeah? And what makes you think I'd let her?"

"Kurtis, cut the crap and get back here. Trust me, you'll be safer." Angela butted in. Kurtis gave his sister a skeptical look. "Kurtis. _Now_." She repeated herself. Her brother gave a quick, defiant scan over the Doppelganger, and finally retreated.

I breathed deeply in relief. The Doppelganger showed no expression whatsoever, only standing straight in her spot.

"So, are you gonna tell us what this is all about or are we leavin'?" Zip inquired.

"Well…maybe we should continue this back at the mansion, shall we?" I replied, too tired to keep up. Both he and Kurtis shot incredulous looks at me. I rolled my eyes. "She won't blow up the car, I give you my word." That seemed to be convincing enough to them. We all packed into the van, Zip and Kurtis sitting at the front, while Angela kept me company in the seats behind. The Doppelganger muted herself as she made her way to the very back. We drove in silence.

_**-x-**_

An hour and a half of explaining everything had weakened me down to the last pulp. I was tired, Angela was annoyed, and Zip was just _being_annoying. Kurtis was nearly up to his nose in anger, and therefore he had to leave the room once I was finished elaborating.

I wasn't sure what exactly he was so angry about- perhaps that Callegar stole his magic frisbee- oh, what did he call it? A Chirugai. Right. But it still didn't seem like that was quite it. I glanced at Angela when she looked away, wondering if she could read his thoughts. I theorized that they could probably block their minds from one another when they truly wanted to- I noticed whenever Kurtis was in a mildly regular mood, they both tended to interact secretly as though they were silently communicating. But whenever he showed strong emotions like anger, Angela made no sign of hearing his thoughts. I decided I would attempt to talk about it with him after we were done discussing.

We all sat on the couches in the lounge, with the exception of Kurtis, but the Doppelganger remained perfectly still as she stood the whole time.

"So. Nevada. That's where Callegar and Amanda are? Right now?" Zip asked, hardly looking at the Doppelganger, even though his question was directed to her.

She nodded. "Yes. If I remember correctly, they were to meet in…" She trailed off, thinking deeply.

"To meet in…?"

"Las Vegas, I recall."

In that instant I came only a second away from giving a straight smack of my palm to my forehead. _Las Vegas? You must be joking…  
_  
Zip heaved a sigh. "Uhh, right then. Las Vegas it is..." He mumbled quizzically. He got up from the sofa and went to his computer, obviously glad that the conversation was over. Angela stayed beside me.

"Is your leg okay?" She asked, pushing a tendril of dark hair away from her bright, eyeliner-encircled eyes. I glanced down at my foot, then tried moving it. There was hardly any pain at all. I stood up. I staggered at first, but regained my balance. I glanced back at her with a positive. She gave me a rather sarcastic thumbs up, and having the reassurance that her support was no longer needed, she, too, went over to the computer to further excavate.

The Doppelganger milled about the room, but didn't do anything apprehensive. I decided they would take care of her, so I departed from the area.

The first thing I noticed going up the stairs, was that the door to Kurtis's room was open again. There was a dim light inside.

I didn't bother knocking. I pushed the doorknob, opening the door just enough for me to get inside. I walked quietly into the room. I felt a slight chill as I stepped in, and saw that the balcony, too, was unlocked. I crept to the glass door that lead out onto it, peering around the edge. There, Kurtis stood, leaning on the railed framework of the landing. His face, though not turned completely in my direction, showed that he was in deep thought. And that he hadn't the slightest clue that I was standing just behind.

"Kurtis?" I said softly. He peeked over his shoulder at me. Then turned away once more. I stepped onto the balcony. "Are you alright? Is there something you want to talk about?"

"No." He stated immediately, not looking away from the view.

I didn't say anything for a moment, realizing that the day had gone by so fast. The horizon had already begun to turn different colours. In the reflection of the soft ginger and pink sunset, Kurtis's sky blue eyes transformed into more of a violet shade. In any shape or form, they were still mesmerizing.

"Stop doing that." His voice caught me off guard.

"Stop doing what?"

"Staring." He replied, and still I received not even the smallest, quickest glimpse from him. I felt my cheeks flush red from embarassment. "And stop thinking so many damn things at once, no wonder why you're such a stubborn, difficult woman."

My expression changed and twisted in disgust. "Excuse me? Where in the name of hell did you get that from?" I retorted in surprise, putting my hands on my hips with triumph. I was truly baffled at what made him spontaneously say such a thing.

He just barely turned his face to see me. "You heard me. You think too much. And too many different things. Analyzing so much at one time that you don't even remember to act like a human being."

My mouth gaped in disbelief. "Well, you're the one to talk! At least I haven't been acting like a selfish bastard who was generously given a place to stay in a time of complete crisis!"

He shook his head, and leaned back away from the railing. He turned his entire body towards me and taking one step closer. Another wave of discomfort shot through me at the closeness.

He took a profound breath and gently sighed. My knees nearly turned to rubber as our breath mingled for a moment. "I didn't mean to be that way." He explained, trying to be calm. "I've just been through a lot lately, y'know?"

I bit my lip, letting my eyes wander off. I made myself focus on the view instead of him. But the tone of his voice still lingered; it sounded broken and damaged. Underneath all the tough exterior, there were parts of him missing. Just as there were broken pieces of me as well.

"And I know you have, too. Probably a lot more than I have. Losing your friends, your home…your parents." He continued. "I didn't mean to act up like that. It's just…well, I'm a little off-focus."

I cleared my throat. "I understand."

"No, you really don't..." Kurtis said under his breath. I glared back at him, only to see that he was looking away again. I rolled my eyes and turned on my heels to the door. I paused, remembering that he hadn't heard the rest of our conversation downstairs.

"The Doppelganger knows the whereabouts of Callegar…so we'll be paying him and Amanda a little visit." I informed, keeping my hands on the frame of the door. Kurtis said nothing in reply. "You should get packing if you're going to bring anything with you…not that you have much over here, anyway."

I started to leave again, but paused to listen as Kurtis spoke. "Where are they?"

I couldn't help but smile impishly to myself. "Oh, just a little place called _Vegas_."

_**-x-**_

Las Vegas was the last place I would ever imagine myself in.

It was filled over the top of different attractions, from bars and clubs to amusements and casinos- I found it hard to believe that people lived there. It was absurd at how urban it was, and how much energy was bustling about the city. The lights were never off.

Surely enough, the hotels were rather exquisite and high quality in the center of it all, so I suppose that made life just a little easier. Kurtis, Angela, and I were the only ones who went along for the trip. The Doppelganger came with us as well, but she took her own route and met up with us there. I wasn't sure how she traveled so quickly and on her own like that, but she was, after all, a supreme being. She only stayed with us for a few moments, though, and then she went off to her earlier assigned meeting with Amanda and Callegar. Zip, as usual, stayed behind at the mansion to help us with all the technical business. The rest was up to us.

By the time we got settled in at the suite, it was nearly five-thirty. Which meant it wouldn't be long before our reunion. And the plans were already set- although neither Amanda or Callegar knew we were here, or that I was even alive, we decided to take them by surprise by meeting them at a social event in a nearby casino.

As I started to run the shower in my division of the suite, my PDA rang in my back pocket. I turned off the nozzle to stop the running water, and stepped out of the bathroom.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Lara, y'all make it there okay?" Zip's voice replied on the other line.

"Yes, we've just arrived at the hotel two hours ago. Have you found them yet?"

"I'm workin' on it, I'm workin' on it."

"Zip, I don't mean to sound bossy, but, do you think you can hurry it up a smidge? They're supposed to be starting the event in about an hour."

"Don't worry about it, just get yourselves ready and I'll call ya up as soon as possible. I promise I'll get back to you before it's time to start, kay?" A pause. "And, just to tell you, the Manor should be done within three weeks. Once it's all fixed up, it'll be ready to go."

I smiled. "Thank you, Zip. But please, do be quick."

"You got it."

I hung up and started the shower again. I took it in a hurry, hastily washing myself and stepping out within a range of five minutes. I took out the blow dryer that was conveniently placed under the sink, and fixed up my hair. Once it was dry, I took a moment to figure out what to do next.

_Come on, Lara, it's not like it's your first time getting all dressed and fancy for something like this_, I reminded myself. But somehow it seemed tougher to pick what I was going to do to make myself presentable. It had never been this difficult. I decided to leave my long hair down, and I curled the very ends of it, leaving the rest of it naturally straight. The shorter pieces of hair that had grown out to around the length of the bottom of my cheekbone hung loosely around the sides of my face. I parted them to one side, for a split second resembling something of what Angela's bangs looked like, then brushed them out so they blended in partially with the rest of my hair. So, therefore, it made the illusion of side-bangs on one side of my face that, in fact, weren't actually cut that way. They were just remnants of the haircut that I had a few months ago. The makeshift "bangs" slightly covered my right eye, and gave a mysterious look to the rest of the hair that tumbled down over my shoulders. No wonder Angela was so fond of the style.

The makeup wasn't too hard, but I got another strange sensation while applying it. Maybe I just wasn't used to looking all lady-like.

_Right, that's the reason_…I thought doubtfully, not wanting to figure out what else it may be. I didn't put on too much, just some mascara, a thin, almost unnoticeable line of dark eyeliner that was a bit heavier towards the corners, and a faintly coloured shade of red on my lips. Simple, and natural-looking, nothing too flashy.

I went back out into the room and opened up the case where I packed the dress I was to wear. I stood in front of the mirror as I put it on. It was black, the simplest colour, but always my favourite to wear. A sleeveless corset at the torso, and the rest falling down to the bottom of my lower leg, a bit shorter at the front and longer at the back , with a long slit in the left side, revealing my leg to a few inches above the knee. It was sleek and form-fitting, but not over the top. The last thing I did was slip on a pair of black heels, that tied up to just over my ankles.

And I was all set. I had gotten ready in under forty minutes- which wasn't too bad, meaning I had time left, however it was still much longer than all the other times I'd gotten all fancied up like this. I shook it off and reached for the handle of my door, and went off into the main living area of the suite. I paused hesitantly when I stepped in, realizing I was the one who'd finished last. Kurtis and Angela were talking amongst themselves on the couches. They certainly didn't seem to have put as much effort into their appearances as I did- both of them wore their hair as they usually did, but thankfully their clothing was quite classy enough. They both looked up at me, hearing the click of my shoes on the marble floor. We all froze for a moment, not knowing what to say, until my PDA rang once more. I hurriedly took it out, and whilst reading the caller ID, I put it on speaker.

"Zip? Did you get what I needed?" I said, putting the phone on the low coffee table and shyly sitting next to Kurtis.

"For sure. Amanda's got a phone on her, I traced it over. The pinpoint was right by one of the security cameras at the entrance to the lobby of the casino. I hacked into the live video footage, and, it's confirmed by visuals. Her and Callegar just arrived, so you should get going."

"Good. Thank you, Zip."

"Make sure you all have the earpieces on, by the way. I need to know where you all are so I can get you around the place." Zip paused, and I started passing out the small headsets. They were similar to the ones I usually use, but a downsized version that fit only in the ear, being camouflaged, and without the extra microphone and camera that would have been far too noticeable. Each of us checked to make sure we could hear Zip through them. I hung up the phone once we were set to go.

"Good luck." Zip told us through the earpieces, and we made our way out to finally meet Amanda and Callegar.


	9. What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas

**What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas**

_"Amanda."_

_The pale, Gothic-looking woman turned around swiftly in her heels. Her choppy, white-blonde hair poked the sides of her face as she spun._

_"Lara?" Amanda exclaimed in shock. But as she took another minute to examine the face she looked at, she breathed in heart-pounding relief. It was only the Doppelganger, and not Lara herself._

_The Doppelganger's eyes flickered strangely, with a supernatural glow._

_"What do you want? Did…did you get rid of her?"_

_The Doppelganger nodded her head ever so slowly in confirmation. She'd have to lie in order for the real Lara to come prepared._

_Amanda didn't notice- she was deceived easily by the convincing innocence and honesty in the Doppelganger's staring eyes._

_"Well, then go away. Callegar's already inside. I'll tell him you gave me the news." She said sharply. "And maybe, if you'd be oh-so-kind, you can do me a little favor while you're at it; go back to her mansion as soon as you can, and kill that little psychotic brat and the tech geek so we don't have to worry about them anymore. Shouldn't be too hard to get rid of Zip- that girl, on the other hand, might be a little tough with those freaky mind tricks of hers. But I'm sure you'll be just fine."_

_Her icy, silver-blue irises were fierce and demanding, and she didn't wish to any further speak with the entity clone of her former friend. She headed back to the entrance of the casino of which the Doppelganger had just pulled her out of. She tried not to think of the information she'd just received. Lara was dead...and she didn't care. No, she never cared. She refused to. And there was no way of reversing what had already been done. _

_Or, at least, not until Callegar was ready to execute his plans._

_**-x-**__  
_  
As soon as we got into the lobby of the casino, we were among a loud, bustling crowd of people. The line went smoothly, however, and we maneuvered around everyone quite easily once we got past that front bit of the entrance. But we made sure to keep a lookout for Amanda- apparently Callegar was elsewhere, not even on the same floor. Amanda was somewhere around, and if she saw any of us, most especially me, then something bad was going to happen.

"Zip, do you still have the track on Amanda's phone?" I whispered, casually putting my hand under my hair so I could hold the earpiece. The three of us kept moving.

"Uh-huh. She's on the other side of the floor, trust me, she won't notice you from that far. But she's going towards the elevator closest to you, Callegar's probably somewhere upstairs." Zip replied, his voice fuzzy over the radio signal.

"Then where is he?" Kurtis butted in loudly.

"I already told you, he's probably upstairs. Man, learn to be patient; you'll get your damn whatever-it's-called by the time you get out of there." Zip reprimanded him. "Just for a heads-up, Callegar kinda owns like half of this entire casino, so any security you see around here, is probably under his order."

We stopped in the middle of the floor, and I tried to think out a plan. Callegar was somewhere upstairs; my eyes shifted upward, noticing the glass-encased balconies overlooking the entire first floor. If he were on that floor, he could be on any one of those landings looking down at us. I slightly put my face down.

"Those balconies, up there- keep a lookout for those, make sure you don't face them directly." I informed the others, and they, too, performed the same action as me, tilting their faces away at the floor.

I continued to scan the surrounding premises. Amanda- I hadn't spotted her yet, but Zip would tell us if she came closer. She was going towards the elevators that were in front and slightly to the right of me. The lines and rows of casino games and tables along with the overfilling crowd would certainly camouflage us from her if we went closer. But if we were to get upstairs, then we'd have to find another way. I turned around slowly, searching for some kind of other elevators or stairs. I couldn't see anything else past the left of me- all the entertainment was mainly in the center of the gigantic, high-roofed room, making a bit of a barrier for me to see past. There were probably a few hallways down on that side.

"Alright, first things first, we get Kurtis's Chirugai. Zip, do you have any idea where that may be?" I finally began.

"Uh, well, there should be a few elevators down those hallways on the other side of the room…" He started. I nodded to myself, my previous thoughts being confirmed. "…and you should easily avoid any chance-encounters with Amanda if you go over that way. On the third floor, they have a few storage areas at the back area. There's a hallway with the storage closets, and another that splits off into a longer one. There's one more room at the end of that, but it's locked up by security." He paused, and we could faintly hear the muffled sound of a clicking keyboard in the background. "…Uh, Kurtis? What exactly does that thing look like again?" He asked after he finished typing.

"It's shiny, sharp, and about the size of your face." Kurtis muttered sarcastically.

Zip sighed in wonder. "Well, I don't see anything like that in there through the security cameras…but there's one shit load of metal boxes in here, so maybe it's locked up in one of 'em. Or Callegar might be carrying it with him."

"No, that wouldn't be possible. He's not Lux Veritatis, there's no way he could hold it for more than a minute."

I shook my head in disagreement, but mostly, confusion. "Then tell me, how exactly did the Doppelganger take it? And if I recall my memories correctly, when you disappeared I was able to hold it with ease."

Kurtis looked thoughtfully at me, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Well, maybe it likes you."

I rolled my eyes, but smiled playfully. "Oh, really? Then explain to me how that works, because last time I checked, your handy little weapon was supposed to be linked to _your_ mind, Kurtis."

He put his hands up in mock surrender. "Fine, fine, you got me. Maybe I was slightly attracted to you."

I chuckled. "Was, being the operative word?"

Angela burst out into a small laughter at our brief battle. Zip broke in, the radio connection making a painful crackling sound in our ears. "Yeah, very cute, but let's not waste anymore time, kay? We got a madman to stop."

"Madman, huh! That's an understatement." Kurtis added in regards of his former army ally. I smiled again, happy that he'd gotten out of his dreary mood. I blinked, bringing myself back from my thoughts.

I pulled over a serious expression as I gave out our first plans. I suddenly felt unbearably awkward, realizing I had never in my life actually worked with anyone other than myself- well, apart from that day or two with Kurtis. But in all other times, it was just me, going solo, only more recently having occasional radio aid from Zip and Alister. "Right then, Zip, you keep a track on Amanda, make sure she doesn't head our way. Angela, you-"

"I can go break into that security room, how 'bout it?" Angela interrupted me with a devilishly over-excited tone. I shook my head in disapproval, and also in pure puzzlement.

It was absolutely incredible at how much she was like her brother- just a younger, female version of him, if that would be a proper way to put it. And although she really wasn't that much younger than us, she still seemed as though she were some kind of a grown teenager. Always looking for trouble- and in that moment, I had a quick flashback of myself when I was in my teenage years. Oh, the little hooligan I was.

"No, you stay put. Kurtis and I will handle that, if you don't mind." I corrected her, nodding once at Kurtis. "We need someone less noticeable down here, and no one will know who you are. And at least if Amanda does catch your sight, you can do whatever you need with your psychic abilities to confuse her."

Angela got my point, and she shrugged unenthusiastically. "I guess that makes sense. But don't come crying to me when you set off an alarm system."

I raised an eyebrow at her quizzically, and tapped the earpiece in reminder. "That's what we've got Zip for."

"Right."

"Be careful." I warned her. I had a feeling she might develop some kind of solo plans of her own once we'd gone away. And if she did, it would surely be dangerous. But I trusted Zip to make sure she didn't do anything stupid. Either way, if she even said one word of it out loud, we'd all hear. No worries.

_**-x-**_

Getting to the elevators the longer way around without being seen wasn't at all a hard task. We just made sure to stay as far apart from the other side of the room as possible, and finally, we turned left into the narrow corridor. I didn't take a single bit of time to take in the breath-taking design and structure of the casino, no matter how exquisite or fancy it was. The two of us stepped into the elevator, and I jabbed my finger at the third floor button.

In my peripheral line of sight, I caught Kurtis looking me over and quickly facing forward again. A surge of mischief flushed through me.

"You know, you've nothing to be ashamed of. You caught _me_ staring before." I said smoothly. "In fact, I was waiting for the moment where you'd finally do so yourself. Obviously some part of you _must_ be infatuated with me." I said teasingly, holding back a grin.

Kurtis scoffed at the idea. "Who said I was staring?" He said in mock seriousness, but I could tell easily he was only pulling off the same act as me.

I looked at him sideways, noticing he, too, was holding the urge to let that crooked smile appear on his face. It didn't work for either of us; he looked back at me, exchanging a lighthearted beam. Then we both obviously felt madly idiotic, as we forgot once again that we weren't the only ones listening in on the conversation.

All we heard was slight giggling from Angela. She laughed brightly over the remote earpiece. "Way to flirt with my brother, Lara. Way. To. Go."

I felt my cheeks become warm and turn a rosy colour. I put a palm to the side of my face nearest to Kurtis to block the expression. Unbelievable- I hadn't blushed so many times in my life, not since I was a young girl.

Kurtis, for once, also showed a clear sign of embarrassment, and annoyance with his sibling. "Angela, shut the hell up." He threatened in a way only a brother could. I shook my head with a smile still on my face as we walked out of the elevator.

With no further interruptions, we took the exact path Zip had told us minutes before. Down a few hallways, down another couple lines of doors, and finally to the very back of the floor, where the emergency staircases and storage closets were lined down a long, dimly lit corridor. The floors were covered by a dark, violet-red rug over a sparkling white marble floor, and the walls were deep gold and burgundy shades.

"Zip, where exactly is this 'other' hallway with the secured room?" I asked, scanning the area after we reached the end of the hall.

"Uh, it should be right after one of the doors, there's one on the left and one on the right at the end of the hallway, check both of them."

We did as he said, and it was the one on the right. Just like all the other doors, but it lead down into a much narrower corridor with a locked and concealed door at the end. We followed it all the way down, keeping the first door open. The locked door didn't have a handle, just a small, square plate as a push-pad , similar to ones that would commonly be used on the doors of a restaurant kitchen, or something along the lines of that. I tried to push the door open, but it wouldn't budge a bit. There was a security code pad on the wall to the left of it.

"Alright, Zip, are you in the mood for a little hacking?" I asked rhetorically.

"Actually, I…can't."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't hack the passcode for that. If I even try interfering with that system, it'll probably set off every alarm in the casino." Zip explained to our misfortune. "Okay, maybe not every alarm in the casino, but at least, everyone on the entire security team will get a direct notification. There's no avoiding a run-in with one of 'em."

Kurtis and I both sighed in deep thought. I examined the code pad and tried to think something out. If I tried to randomly crack the code and get it incorrect, then security would definitely come, and that would doubtlessly cause trouble. They'd have to come up here to retype the code to reset the alarm, and they'd wonder why we're trying to break in...

_Unless_, I thought considerately, an idea bubbling into my head, _we weren't trying to break in_.

I glimpsed nervously up at Kurtis, my pulse quickening at the plan I had in mind. No, I can't…I hesitated. It wouldn't be right. I took in my breath, and almost forgot to let it out. It was shaky when I did. But it'd be the only reasonable excuse for being up here, in a small, narrow hallway, away from everyone else…

I closed my eyes, making my final decision. I reached quickly up to the side of my face and pulled out the earbud, turning it off without warning and placing it in my palm. I looked at Kurtis and put a hand up to his ear as well. I hastily snatched the earpiece from him and did the same to it as the other one.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" He exclaimed as I put the earbuds into my handbag. I felt my heart beat faster, and I could hear it pounding in my head. I looked into his deep sapphire eyes with a determined gaze. He looked back at me with a growing bafflement on his face.

I took in a sharp breath and held it, afraid of my following words: "Kiss me."

His eyes widened. "_WHAT_?"

"_Now_." I instantly pulled him close without giving him a chance to reply. I gripped my hands over his neck, and in seconds our lips touched. Blood raced through my veins at the feeling. At first I knew he was in a state of complete shock, but he quickly realized what I was doing. And he went along perfectly.

And if he knew it was only an act, then he definitely knew how to be a good actor. I felt his hands firmly on my waist, and, as if reading the plan straight from my mind, he pushed me back against the wall, and though there was a short pain as the edges of the security box poked into my skin, it did exactly as I needed it. I heard the sound of the buttons being 'accidentally' pushed on the passcode pad- and after I knew that was done, I paid no attention to anything else but Kurtis.

The sensation of him being so close sent both chills and warmth coursing through me at the same time. I wasn't even sure exactly what was happening- I was so out of my head, as if I couldn't even control myself anymore. As if my mind had just disappeared, and my only intention was to give into a small, secret desire that had unknowingly been building up inside. If I had to choose the most amazing feeling in the world, it would have been in that very minute.

We both relaxed into the moment, and with that I let my arms rest around his broad shoulders, and he proceeded to run his hand lightly up my shoulder, keeping the other on my waist, and giving me a short remembrance of the time we first met. I was surprised that the kiss wasn't just a simple peck on the lips, like what I'd expected it to be- it was deep with ferocity and passion. I didn't want to ever stop, and that frightened me even more.

I didn't even have a second to breathe, our lips being locked at almost all times. Seeing it as possibly the only moment where he'd ever be vulnerable around me, I allowed my hands to freely move, my fingers brushing through Kurtis's dark, cool hair that I'd always yearned to feel. He pulled me even closer so that our chests pressed against one another, as his own hands progressed around my back, skimming the ends of my long brunette locks. I shivered as his fingers move slowly up my spine, and made their way up to my scalp, entwining them in my hair as I had done to his.

Finally, allowing me to take a deep breath, his mouth moved away from mine, but I felt the shocking warmth and dampness of it again on my neck just below the jawline. Which, of course, didn't help me at all in breathing normally. It only made me further gasp for air as he trailed a couple of kisses across my jaw and down my neck, teasingly lingering just below my collarbone, perhaps in an area where it would usually be too close for comfort. But I wanted him to keep going. I was taken aback by his actions- everything he did felt as though he'd been wanting to do so for a long time. Kurtis's lips went back to mine once more-

It all ended as quick as it began.

"Ahem." A masculine voice cleared its throat. Kurtis and I immediately separated in alarm at the sound, though somehow we were still just barely touching.

Both of our chests heaved in deep, bulky breaths, trying to regain oxygen. My head felt hot and dazed, and my hands twitched in a strangely profound urge to be with him again. Neither of us even dared to look at one another, however, feeling like little children that had been caught misbehaving.

"Mind telling me what you two are…doing up here?" The guard asked suspiciously. Kurtis hesitantly eyed at me.

"Well…what does it look like we're doing?" Kurtis finally said, pulling off an expression that seemed almost secretly provocative. I knew he was just trying to do that thing that only men can do with one another- making certain signs to each other, indicating that they were clearly…well, with a woman.

The guard stared at him for a moment, then he nodded, something of a goofy smile coming onto his face in understanding. He looked over me with interested hazel eyes, unmistakably being a stereotypical, perverted man and keeping his gaze over the visible cleavage on my chest that was well emphasized by the corset torso of the dress. I balled my hands into fists, but tried not to look like I noticed. Then he looked back to Kurtis.

"Right. Well, uh, seems you must have set off the security lock…let me fix that." The guard replied slowly after his brief moment.

He went over to the box and typed in a six-digit code to reset the alarm. I watched as he quickly punched it in, but I was able to memorize the numbers: 184077. He stepped back after the small glowing screen changed from red back to its original bluish-green.

"That should do it. Just make sure you don't bump into it again, kay? Have fun." He laughed, and left the hallway, closing the first door behind him.

I rolled my eyes at him once he left. _What an idiot_. I immediately turned to the pad and retyped the passcode. The screen flashed and came up with ACCESS GRANTED; the door made a sound of releasing air, and I easily pushed it open. Kurtis walked in behind me.

"Here you go." I said after I put my earpiece back in, holding his out to him. Kurtis stared at me with narrowed eyes for a moment, slowly taking his earbud back. I watched as he placed it back in his ear, then started to look around the room.

"So, that's it?" He began in a loud exhale that sounded as though it'd been held for a long time. I glanced up at him, tilting my head slightly, as if saying I didn't know what he meant. "Oh, come on, Lara, don't act stupid. We both know you get what I'm talking about." He said.

I dropped the act, looking back at him. "Well, it worked, didn't it?" I came up with a quick reply.

"That's not what I meant."

I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Instead, the earpieces made a loud, abrupt crackling noise, and the radio connection turned back on.

"Hey, what the hell happened to you two? The connection just turned off completely!" Zip yelled at us once the continuous fuzziness of the radio was finishing turning on.

"Turned off? Well, I didn't notice anything." I said, pretending that nothing had happened. Kurtis shook his head at me in displeasure, but was obviously too irritated to say anything else. _Damn it,_ I thought, regretting what I'd just done. _Lovely, now he'll be acting like an ass as usual just because of that stupid incident_. I bit my lip. _Stupid, stupid idea._

"Uh…okay, I guess. So you got into the room?" Zip continued.

"Obviously." I replied irritably. I glanced up at one of the cameras in the corner of the room with a dark glare, knowing that Zip had already gotten hold of the live video footage. "Angela? Are you still there?"

"Mm-hmm. I'm not going nowhere." Angela replied with a bored tone over the headset. "Amanda already got upstairs, I saw her go into the elevator."

"Good. Stay down there until we get back." I ordered. "Well, Zip, you're right, there's dozens of locked boxes in here. Now how exactly are we supposed to find it?"

"It's here." Kurtis said instantly, standing next to one of the containers. I lifted my eyebrows at him in surprise, but shrugged it off and went over to him.

"Are you sure?"

"Definitely. It's like you said before- it's linked to my mind. And I know that it's definitely in here." He said firmly, tapping the cover of the box. "The only problem is figuring out how to open it."

I knelt beside the box, running my hand over the top of it. There wasn't a lock on it or anything, just a circled bar of metal through the loop that attached the bottom and top pieces of the box together.

Kurtis and I exchanged quizzical looks as I stood up. "Good question."

_**-x-**_

_Angela sat down on a stool at the small bar at the side of the room. She was bored of walking around doing nothing, waiting for Lara and Kurtis to get back. She didn't even pay attention to their words over the remote earpiece as they tried to figure out how to get her brother's Chirugai._

_The bartender came up to her. "Need anything?"_

_Angela cocked her head to the side, thinking. "No thanks." She replied quietly. She almost laughed to herself, thinking about what would probably have happened if she did take a drink or two. She figured, from experience, it wouldn't turn out so great._

_"Shit!" Lara exclaimed over the headset. Angela jumped at the sound of her loud voice._

_"What happened?" She asked, throwing her hand to her ear in pain._

_"Nothing at all, just…ugh, Kurtis, learn to control that thing." Lara said, her voice muffled over the horrible connection between the headsets._

_"Hey, I told you to keep your hands away from it!" Kurtis snapped. They were obviously talking about the Chirugai. "You're lucky it didn't slice it off!"_

_"Slice what off?" Angela asked, alarmed._

_"My hand, that's what. It's alright, Angela, don't worry, it's just a small cut. I'll be fine." Lara reassured. "We'll be down in a minute."_

_Angela sighed, and she waited, remaining at her seat next to the bar. Her eyes wandered mindlessly around the area, and she rested her elbows on the counter, holding her chin with her hands._

_"What's a pretty lady like you sitting here all alone?" Angela looked up, and saw a man standing beside her. He looked slightly familiar- tall, with black hair and intense green eyes. She was sure that she didn't know him, but there was something about his face, perhaps the structure of it, which looked like it was from somewhere she'd seen before._

_"I'm not alone." Angela said in a casual tone. "I have a friend here, she's having a little get-together...for her engagement party." She lied through a convincing smile._

_"Well, mind if I take a seat?"_

_"No, go ahead."_

_The man sat down on the stool next to her. "What's your name?"_

_Angela panicked inside for a split second, not knowing if she should give her real name or not. "Alexandria." She said, instead of her own._

_"Alexandria? Oh, really?" The man said, surprised. "Because, I have a friend here too…he said your name was Angela."_

_Angela's eyes widened, realizing who he was talking about. His alien green eyes gazed at her, giving her an uncomfortable chill. She could either keep lying to him and go with what he said or, taking her chances, she could run._

_**-x-**_

"Ang, who are you talking to?" Kurtis asked his sister as the two of us started out of the elevator back on the first floor. She didn't answer us.

We looked at each other worriedly, and we hurried back to the main room of the casino. We scanned over the crowds- and there, on the other side of the room, Angela stood. She was talking to some…strange man. We heard her mutter something to him over the headset, but she was talking too quietly for our earpieces to pick up.

Kurtis and I stood in our place, watching her from afar. Angela stood up quickly from her seat and turned to walk in our direction, but the man got up as swift as she did and grabbed her arm.

"Angela! Answer me!" Kurtis repeated himself. It didn't help. I watched as the man continued to talk to her, and she hadn't an idea what to do. My eyes wandered curiously over the man- and my heart skipped a bit as the light caught a lean glimmer of something at his side. I gasped.

"Angela! Get away from him! Now!" I yelled, not caring about the crowd of people around us hearing me. I instantly started pushing through the people to get to her, and Kurtis followed me in haste. I kept my eyes on Angela as she turned her head to see us, and I knew she could hear every word we said. But she couldn't seem to spot us in the crowd, and I saw the worried alert on her face.

"Lara! Lara, what are you doing?" Kurtis said frantically as he tried to keep up with me. I turned sharply around, making him bump into me.

"He has a gun!" I screamed, to both Angela and Kurtis.

I turned back to keep going towards Angela- but I stopped dead in my tracks as the sound of a gunshot echoed piercingly through the gigantic room. There was a wave of loud and frightened gasps throughout the crowd, and people took cover at the sound. With everyone lowering themselves closer to the floor, Kurtis and I remained standing. Angela was on the floor. All was silent. And then, the chaos began.

Everyone in the casino started to scream, and run back towards the entrance. Kurtis ran to Angela, and I trailed not far behind him.

"Angela!" He exclaimed, collapsing at his sister's side on the floor. I knelt beside him, and he cradled her in his arms. She was unconscious- but still breathing. Crimson blood trickled down onto the floor from the puddle seeping through the abdomen of her dark, violet-blue dress. Her already pale skin became even whiter, and as I reached my hand to her wrist; her warmth was fading by the second.

"Kurtis, we have to get her out of here." I said under my breath. "Zip, are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm…I'm…" Zip began, lost for words. "…Is she okay?" He skipped over his previous sentence, only having concern for Kurtis's sister.

"She will be." Kurtis said with a certain assurance in his tone. I didn't know how he was so sure of himself, but I had a feeling that he was right. She was a strong girl. I put a hand softly on his shoulder and gave him a meek smile. Then I stood after a moment. The man who'd shot Angela was nowhere to be seen, but the doors of the elevator that Amanda had gone through earlier were just closing.

"He's gone to the upper floors." I said after observing. I looked down at Kurtis and Angela's weak body. "They know we're here."


	10. Bringing Down the House

**Bringing Down the House**

Kurtis and I carried Angela carefully to the side of the entrance. We set her down on the marble floor, staying beside her. Everyone was mostly gone by then, too afraid of the gunshot they'd heard. It seemed to me that no one has any tough life experiences to learn from, when they waste their time in a place like Vegas.

"Ang, stay with us." Kurtis said in a hushed voice to his sister, holding her hand. She, now on the brink of being both conscious and unconscious, barely managed to slightly nod her head in understanding. She was trying her hardest not to pass out completely, knowing what could happen if she did.

"You can't leave her here like this." Both of us looked up at the sound of a voice- _my_ voice –but we instinctively knew it was the Doppelganger. She'd probably been able to hear the gunshot from outside. I stood.

"Then help us." I said pleadingly, glancing down at Angela's bleeding body. "Just get her out of here. Get her to the nearest hospital. _Please_."

The Doppelganger stared at me, letting the information sink in, then knelt down and easily took Angela into her arms. She gave me another stare for a moment. Somehow, she knew that I wasn't entirely sure of leaving Angela's life in her hands.

"You can trust me." She spoke almost inaudibly. I nodded, and she fled from the scene. I turned, reaching my hand down to Kurtis, and he took it, hoisting himself up onto his feet.

"Thanks." He muttered in a glum tone.

I frowned despondently. "I'm sorry."

He gave me an expression that told me he understood what I meant, in one way or another. _I_ wasn't even sure what I meant- I just felt that I needed to apologize to him, for whatever reason it may be.

"Zip, we need to find Amanda, _now_."

_**-x-**_

Kurtis and I were briskly making our way to the front elevator. I hastily pushed the button for the second floor, then reached down to the slit in the side of my dress. Pulling it up an inch or two, I revealed a thin, black elastic band around my thigh, where I carried a small dagger. For emergency purposes, of course. I slid it out and let the bit of my dress fall back into place.

Kurtis smirked at me, wielding his Chirugai. "Nice." He said in amusement. "No guns?"

I shook my head. "Not yet."

"She's on the fourth floor now." Zip finally answered. I let out a frustrated sigh.

"We're already at the _second_ floor, Zip." I said, as we descended down the hall. I stopped short, putting my arm out in front of Kurtis to make him halt as well. I heard footsteps, and a slight cling of metal on metal. I lowered my voice. "And we've got company."

I told Kurtis to stay in his place back in the narrow hallway leading from the elevators. I crept vigilantly to the edge of the wall, with the knife in hand. I stopped at the corner where it split into an "L", leading off down the first full hallway, and listened for motion. I heard the casual cough coming from someone, and he wasn't far away. I kept listening; he was several feet down the hall, walking in circles with an occasional clinking and jingling of weaponry.

I assumed Amanda and Callegar wouldn't hold this 'social event' at the casino without hiring mercenaries to take care of any chance of interference. But what exactly we'd be interfering with, I had yet to find out.

The footsteps stopped for a moment. Then they proceeded, and they were closer than before. The mercenary coughed once more, and now I could tell he was only about two or three feet away. I held my breath, readying myself. I made my grip tighter on the dagger- then I made my move once I heard him turn away from my direction.

I stepped out from the wall into the open hallway, and threw myself at the man from behind. He suddenly reached for a gun at his side in surprise, but I grabbed him from beneath his arms, blocking his way. I instantly brought the knife to his neck and swiftly slid it across the skin, pushing deep as I did so. He began choking and gurgling loudly as the blood poured from his throat.

I holstered the dagger and pressed my free hand firmly over his mouth and nose, forcing him to lose air, and silencing the ungodly noises he made. He struggled desperately in my grasp, but I didn't let him go. Slowly, he ceased to fight back, and finally, as his body went limp, I released him and let him fall loosely to the ground with a thud. I rolled my eyes at how easy it was. I leaned back, peering into the previous hall. I motioned for Kurtis to come along. He willingly stepped forward.

He looked at me, then at the body on the ground; then back at me again with wide eyes in approval. "Impressive." He mused enthusiastically.

I purse my lips in triumph. "Let's go."

"Wait, don't ya think we should take his loot just in case there's more of them?" Kurtis suggested, motioning to the dead mercenary.

I nodded and took off the mercenary's tool belt and put it on, taking one holster to put around my exposed thigh, and a pistol with only half of its rounds unused. He didn't have any other ammunition on him, so I'd have to do with what was left. I also snatched as many of the hand grenades as I could, and latched them onto the belt. Kurtis took another gun, but didn't bother with any holsters.

"Well, there you have it. Guns." I stated with a sigh, referring to his comment on my previous weapon only minutes ago.

We proceeded down the corridor. It opened up into an extended area, and I soon found that it was one of those glass balconies. It was only one of them, but it was actually connected to a much larger area, that was almost the size of a ballroom. There were tables and seats all throughout, and I guessed it was a dining room. It would have been perfectly normal to see in a casino- except for the fact that there were no people, and the lights from the chandeliers were all turned off, making the entire area fairly shadowy and dark.

I walked to the enormous glass window that encased the entire balcony piece. I peered through, looking down onto the first floor beneath us. With all the darkness around us, it made it harder to see through the slightly tinted glass. It made an illusion as though it were dark downstairs as well. I wasn't quite sure what to do- it was too silent.

"Where are they…? There couldn't possibly be just one of them. And that most definitely wasn't the man who shot Angela." I wondered aloud. Kurtis joined at my side, looking out through the curved window. It was quiet for a minute more, until he gave me a look of alarm.

"Oh shit." He said.

"What?"

"Get down." He wasn't looking at my face- his eyes were lower than that. I looked down, and saw a small red, glowing dot on my abdomen. It was moving upward; my eyes darted through the window once more, and saw a faint stream of red light coming from down below. I gasped, seeing the sniper, and immediately pushed myself to the ground on my stomach just as the mercenary pulled the trigger.

The glass from the window shattered volubly from the impact of the bullet. Kurtis and I took cover, and the alarms of the casino began blaring; it must've been triggered by security breach sensing that a piece of property had been broken. I held my arms over my head on the floor, the tiny, sharp pieces of glass poking at my back as they fell and getting stuck in my hair. We both looked up once the glass was finished falling; the window was almost completely open now, and down beneath us more mercenaries were making their way towards the elevators. I quickly rolled over to the side of the window next to the wall, and in a kneeling position, I drew my gun. Kurtis stayed at my side, his own weapons ready, and we remained against the wall, waiting for the enemies to arrive.

We listened for a few moments, but there was no sound. Kurtis and I exchanged puzzled looks, and I dared to peer around the corner of the wall. The only sound we heard was the siren-like screech of the alarms, and what I saw was absolutely nothing down the first hall we came through. It was completely empty, but then I remembered there was still one more hall off to the left of it, where the elevators were. I turned back from the corner.

"I can't see anything. They might be in the other corridor." I whispered as quietly as possible, leaning in towards Kurtis for him to hear.

"What was that?" Zip asked, not hearing my words clearly as the miniature headset didn't pick up small sounds. I decided not to say anything in reply, not even to tell him to be quiet, because I knew he wouldn't hear. And if I spoke any louder, someone else would. I peeked over the edge of the wall again into the hall after another minute or so of hearing nothing but the monotonous alarms.

Suddenly I sniffed the air, smelling a strange, humid aroma. Glancing down the hallway, the air began to become unclear and foggy, and I realized one of the mercenaries must've set off a smoke bomb.

Within a matter of rapid seconds, both Kurtis and I had to control the need to cough, the smoke getting caught in our lungs. We stood from our seated poses with our faces masked in the crevice of our arms, and backed up a bit towards the open window of the terrace to get farther away from the fog. But it hardly helped; it was only getting worse. Once the room was almost completely filled with the murky clouds, we heard the shuffle of footsteps, and more of that artificial clinking sound of heavy weapons and material. There were maybe six men at the most from the sound of it. I listened and watched the area leading from the corridor.

There was a quiet thud on the floor, and I looked down to see a small, hazy greenish light through the mist. A grenade. And it wasn't the kind that filled the air with toxins.

I reached down swiftly to take hold of the light, and feeling the rough, circular object with my fingers, I picked it up and chugged it back down the hall towards the mercenaries. I grabbed Kurtis by the arm of his shirt and hauled him out from the balcony into the larger dining room. By then it was too late to take cover. We finally heard loud cursing and yelling from the men behind us, and then a large, noisy eruption.

I grunted, tripping and stumbling onto the floor in effect of the explosion's invisible force. Not only could we barely see now with the added smoke from the blast and the original noxious fog, but the series of sprinklers at the top of the ceiling went off in reaction to the burst of flames, soaking me and Kurtis in cold, showering water.

We stood quickly from the floor, regaining our balance and clutching tightly to our weapons, holding them out in front of us. I shivered slightly at the chilly wetness settling over my hair and shoulders. The water started to clear away the fog just enough for us to barely see through it. The explosion hadn't been strong enough; only a few had been taken out, along with creating a large hole in the wall, and the majority of the mercenaries were still up on their feet. And they saw us standing in front of them.

I ducked to the side as one shot at me. As he got closer, I aimed at the temple of his head and pulled the trigger on my gun, twice. He fell instantly. I turned to take out another pair. There was only one other one- Kurtis was taking care of him. I was stuck dealing with the last two mercenaries at once, and at my disadvantage of having only one sturdy weapon.

One came at me with his own assault rifle, and I cursed silently to myself, knowing I had the weaker gun with probably much less ammo than his. In the spur of the moment, I dove behind one of the dining tables as he took a few automatic shots at me. I felt something tear at my skin, and my eyes darted down to my arm as I saw a clean cut at the surface, releasing a stream of thick red liquid that dripped rapidly down. I ignored it, and resumed to shoot at the mercenary from behind the table.

I kept aim at his chest and head, knowing those would be the most fatal points. When he continued to only evade the shots and move even closer, I shifted my pistol downwards and shot directly at his knee, and he keeled over with a howl of pain. With him defenseless for the moment, I took that time to get a shot at his head- he was finished in seconds.

I got up to look out for the other mercenary, shifting upward as fast as I could. I pulled the trigger immediately- but my heart dropped when I heard the fear-provoking click of the empty ammunition barrel. The mercenary readied to take his shot at me, defenseless, when I heard Kurtis call my name.

I whirled around, and stumbled back as I saw the familiar flash of a fast, orangey light zooming past my face. The Chirugai. I watched it move quickly by, then cringed and shut my eyes when I caught sight of its razor-sharp blades severing the flesh of the last mercenary which had begun to come at me. I heard the soft thump of him hitting the ground, and I opened my eyes. Kurtis stood before me, with the Chirugai back in his grasp and in its locked, safe position.

"You okay?" He asked, seeing my breathless state. I nodded.

"I'm fine." I replied, wiping away the dampness on my forehead, which I couldn't tell if it were sweat or water. Most likely both.

By now we were both drenched almost completely in our once presentable clothing. The floor was slippery from the ongoing sprinklers; I untied the laces around my ankles and removed the heels I wore, throwing them to the side. Somehow my confidence level dropped ever so slightly, as I stood barefoot without the boost of the 3-inch-high shoes, going back to being unusually short for my age at 5 foot 6.

"We need to get up to the fourth floor." Kurtis reminded me. I looked up at him from under shady eyelashes, sliding my gun back in its holster.

"Gladly." I replied darkly. "I think Amanda will have a pleasant surprise seeing me again."

_**-x-**_

We stepped cautiously into a vast, circular room with a vaulted ceiling. It was a conference area, with a long table down the center of it. We were on the fourth floor- and this was the only place they could be.

I had a strange but sure feeling that we weren't alone in the room. "Amanda?" I called out, with some hidden rage beneath me saying her name. We waited for a moment.

"Lara." Kurtis and I twirled around, hearing the voice. It was followed by light footsteps, with an indicating click of heels. I clenched my jaw at the sight of my long-gone former friend. "What the hell do you think you're doing here?" Amanda continued in her pointed, articulate voice, as she stopped a few feet from us.

"Where's Callegar?" I asked, ignoring her attitude. By now it was a good guess that she'd probably figured out I clearly wasn't dead. And she didn't seem too happy about it, either.

"Why would you care? You don't even know who he is." She snapped.

"_Victor_ Callegar. He used to be in the legion with Kurtis." I explained my knowledge with seriousness to my tone. Amanda narrowed her eyes at Kurtis.

"You've been doing your research, hmm? So, this is that 'Kurtis Trent' everyone's so damn fond of mentioning around here?" She said crossly, proving that Victor clearly hadn't forgotten about him.

"I sure as hell am." Kurtis retorted, his hatred already decided towards Amanda in only his first few moments of knowing her. They glared angrily at each other for a second, and I looked down at Amanda's knee, exposed by the half-cropped dress she wore.

"I take it your leg has healed fine?" I questioned, referring to the quite damaging wound I'd given her months before back in the arctic.

Her eyes threw invisible daggers at mine. "Yes. It has. Thanks for asking." She said sarcastically through gritted teeth, stepping closer once more. My hand moved gradually down to the knife I still had by the holster. She leaned in towards me, almost too close for comfort, and spoke in a quiet but harsh tone as a sinister smile smeared over her mouth. "Did you enjoy the funeral?"

_Bad move_. My head rose immediately to the temperature of the sun, and, with my fury getting the better of me, I raised a readied hand and made a swift and powerful movement at her, giving Amanda a well-deserved strike across the face. She recoiled, holding her hand to her swelling cheekbone in pain. I then took hold of her neck from behind, pinching forcefully at the sides, and pulled the knife to the front of her throat with the other hand.

"I've given you too many chances. What did I ever do to you, Amanda? I hadn't any control over anything that happened, yet you blame every damned thing in your miserable, useless life on _me_." I spat angrily.

"Lara. Lara, calm down." Kurtis spoke up, holding me by the arm. I shook him off.

"_Don't_ tell me to calm down!" I yelled unexpectedly at him. I pressed the blade harder at Amanda's neck, hard enough to draw blood. "Give me one reason not to kill you off and get on with it right now."

She tried to say something, but choked on her words, her vocal chords suffocated entirely.

"Well?" I pressed on for an answer, though I knew she couldn't speak. "_Tell me!_"

"_Lara!_" Kurtis raised his voice at me, and I felt him wrap a strong arm around my waist, pulling the knife away from me, and me away from Amanda. My emotion wavered and simmered down a bit as I felt his warm breath near my face. "Take a breather, will you?" He whispered tranquilly in my ear. He held on to me for a moment more as Amanda coughed violently. Then he let go slowly, somehow sure that he'd calmed me down. Again I was astounded at the effects he had on me.

And, for the second time that day, I fought the desperate urge of wanting him close to me again. I stood my ground, feeling strangely cold and isolated without his profound warmth.

"_Damn_ you, Lara." Amanda said hoarsely after regaining posture. "You can go take that knife and shove it right up your-"

"Now, Amanda, that isn't any way to talk to our guests." All three of us looked at the place behind Amanda, and saw a man matching the exact description Angela had told of before. He had thinly cut black hair that allowed his face to be clearly seen. He was tall, and bulky with muscle definition- it was almost frightening to think how strong he would be. Then I remembered, he'd almost broken Angela's arm when I was in Japan.

I could definitely tell he was easily a person who'd worked in some kind of military unit. His facial features were sharp and masculine, and his skin agreeably tanned. I realized, he was wearing the same thing that the escaped shooter from downstairs had been wearing: a black suit, with a navy-blue shirt underneath.

My mind spun as I wondered how he could have possibly been the one who'd shot Angela. That man hadn't been _nearly_ as strong or tall as him, and he had…green eyes. I looked at Callegar in wonder. He, too, had the same pure emerald eyes. _But didn't Angela say they were…white?_ As if answering my unspoken question, his eyes seemed to change before me. The intense, dark green faded completely, and in a matter of time-splitting seconds they had grown to a startling, inhuman crystal-clear colour. I stared at his face, my own eyes wide, feeling suddenly scared and hollow inside, as though someone had punched a hole straight through me and stole away all my courage.

"What the hell…?" I breathed slowly. I then sensed someone grab my arms from behind. "Kurtis?" I asked, turning my head only to see that it was another mercenary. Another one heedlessly restrained Kurtis as well. I turned back to Callegar, and I noticed that no one in the room dared to look him directly in the eyes. And I decided, neither would I, for he was looking unwaveringly straight at me.

"You must be the lovely Lara Croft. I've heard much about you." Callegar started, speaking in an unusually kind manner. I pressed my lips together, forcing back any unnecessary words. He then glimpsed over my shoulder. "Kurtis. It's good to see you again, my friend."

I didn't bother looking back; I already knew Kurtis must've gone into a silent rage. The mercenary behind me reached down and took the empty pistol and my only possible weapon out of its holster, and I heard the clatter of the gun being thrown onto the smooth granite floor near the wall.

"I see your Doppelganger hasn't been true to her orders, then." Callegar continued with a sigh. "Well, I suppose it doesn't matter. What's in the past is in the past. Anyway, a person with such vast knowledge like you would probably be useless to the world if you were dead."

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "What do you want with me anyway? I've never even known of you until all of this started happening." Then I thought to myself, what exactly _has_ been happening in the past few days?

Callegar looked over me in deliberation. "I'm afraid I can't tell you that now, Lara."

"Why not?"

"Because I think it's just a little too early to be letting you in on information like this." Callegar's eyes then shifted back to Kurtis again in an instance, so fast that if you blinked, you would miss it entirely. He immediately put his focus back to me after the peculiarly suspicious moment. "Don't worry; I'm sure you'll think of something." He turned to leave, but I wouldn't allow it without getting something out of him. This whole situation just seemed all-too familiar to me.

"Why are you trying to kill Angela? What has she ever done? She's just a young woman minding her own business."

Callegar laughed at my description of her. "Minding her own business? Well, I wouldn't say that. Trust me, that bullet didn't do much damage. She'll live." He reassured. Another set of thoughts popped into my mind. This man knew what he was talking about, and it was as if he was sure that everything was going to go his way. "Maybe you should ask Kurtis and his sister a little more about their past."

I gave fleeting glare back at Kurtis, wondering what he might've been holding back. But he appeared just as perplexed as I was. I felt the mercenary release me, him and the other one joining Callegar and Amanda.

"If you want to know more, I'm sure we'll be seeing you in Venice." Callegar offered. "We can show you around the factory."

_Genesis?_ I thought, recalling the locations of the factories Zip had given me. One of them was in Italy. "And, if I were you, I'd get out of here within the next three minutes." He added, looking at his watch before they left the room. And so, Kurtis and I stood alone, baffled by the extremely odd and hurried conversation we'd just had. Kurtis scratched his head, trying to process what he'd just heard.

"Huh. And the bastard didn't even try to kill us. That's a first." Kurtis stated plainly, unable to muster up any other words.

I lifted an eyebrow at him. "You call sending up a dozen mercenaries with guns and explosives, 'not trying to kill us'?" I questioned pretentiously. Kurtis shrugged, my analysis making a point. "Now why exactly would we need to leave within three minutes…?"

Kurtis and I swapped startled expressions as soon as the sentence rolled out of my mouth. With time ticking, a race to the entrance ensued.

I thrust my hands to the knobs of the double-doors that the group had just left through. I swore loudly, finding that they'd locked us inside the conference room.

"Those bloody, two-faced idiots!" I yelled, throwing my fist in anger at the unmoving doors with a loud thud, then backing up. "How do they expect us to get out in three minutes if we can't even open the damn doors?"

I heard a loud bang coming from the other side of the room. Kurtis stood beside the door that he'd just bashed open.

"There's a set of emergency stairs over here. Come on!"

We were dashing down the long, circling flights of stairs, skipping the last two or three steps before each short landing. It felt as though there were a clock counting down in my head, and my stomach stirred at the thought of us not getting out in time. I wondered faintly in the back of my head, why someone would be willing to blow up and destroy such a fancy casino. But it didn't matter- Callegar probably didn't even actually own it legally. And with that, I concluded that he was, indeed, a complete bastard. And a sly one, too.

While still at a flying pace, we reached the second to last landing, and I shot a glimpse down over the rail encasing the stairs. The shortcut I had in mind wasn't too far down; I kicked my legs over the railing, sending myself straight past the last short set of stairs. I performed a quick forward roll as soon as I hit the ground, to lessen the impact of the fall, and to make it easier to continue running as I came back up on my feet. It was a common maneuver that I'd learned from free-running and gymnastics training. And it wasn't so difficult after all, to my surprise, especially considering the fact that I'd been wearing a dress.

I waited merely a second more for Kurtis to catch up, then proceeded to race at full speed down the hallways and out to the main room. I slipped for a worrisome instant, the floor soaked with slick water from the sprinklers that continued to shower throughout the casino. But I scrambled hastily back to my feet, Kurtis urgently pulling my arm as he ran to help me up as fast as possible.

The entrance was in our sight now; I felt my wet hair slapping and sticking to my back as we sprinted toward the open doors. My heart thudded so flutteringly in my chest, the beat almost echoing in my head, that I was afraid that it itself were about to explode.

Suddenly the sound in my ears was blurred in a harsh, stifled way, and I felt myself be thrown forward, finally hitting cold, hard pavement. My vision went bright in that moment, and then quickly became hazy and dark. An agonizing surge of fiery heat kindled in a quick burst at the skin of my back, and quickly faded away as I realized I was lying on the rough ground just outside the casino. Pieces of the architecture went flying out in different directions, and as I barely managed to turn myself to peek back, my dull line of sight allowed me to see nothing but intense, orangey flames and dark clouds slowly going up into a black sky.

I allowed myself to breathe heavily in both exhaustion and relief, wholly collapsing on the black cement road. I peered to my side to see Kurtis, who was already beginning to get up and going.

"Come on, we have to go." He said to me, looking around at all the panicking people who'd been around the explosion. I got up, limping carefully on the leg that had been hurt the previous day. It wasn't completely healed- I was sure that I'd be fine just walking about the casino with no extra pressure, but now that I had put it through some strained work, the internal bruising above the ankle began to ache once more.

As we started away from the disaster, I took out my PDA and immediately dialed Zip.

"Shit, Lara, are you guys okay?" Zip said as soon as he picked up after only two rings. "I lost the radio connection completely! First off, those damn sprinklers were messing up the sound, and then it just turned off all together after a few minutes while I was trying to fix it. Then the rest of the video footage around the hotel shut down. What happened over there?"

"Callegar set bombs around the hotel. We barely got out of the entrance in time." I explained, as we walked up to the hospital we'd arrived at. I stopped short, noticing something abnormal in the narrow alley between the hospital and the next building. It was a pair of two glowing, ocher eyes protruding from the darkness. My level of alertness went down a drastic notch, as it dawned on me that the eyes belonged to the Doppelganger. They blinked once, and then vanished into the shadows.

Kurtis opened the door for me as I held the PDA to my ear. "We told the Doppelganger to get Angela to the hospital. We're going in to see her now, so I'll be sure to call you back later. Take care." I pressed the end button, and slid the phone back in the small bag that I'd managed to keep a hold of. We went up to the woman at the front medical desk. She was young and slender, with a soft, creamy-skinned, heart-shaped face. Her radiantly ginger hair was twirled in perfect, small, circular curls, winding down over her thin shoulders.

"Excuse me, but has anyone come in within the past hour?" I asked her politely.

"There've been quite a few people submitted in just the past thirty minutes, Miss." She said, her voice sounding bright and sweet, reminding me of light, melted butter. "You know, it's a Friday night, we're in Las Vegas. Lots of partying going around at this time." She giggled meekly. Then she studied us for a moment, observing the fact that we probably looked as though we'd rolled around in mud and were ran over with a 5-ton bulldozer. She slowly began her next sentence, passing off our odd and shaggy appearances. "Are…are you looking for someone?"

"Yeah, my _sister_." Kurtis answered before I could. "She's got short, dark hair, blue eyes, pale skin. She was wearing a dress when she was brought in." He clarified with hurriedness in his voice, eager to know where Angela was.

"There was an incident at the casino a few blocks down. She was hit in a shooting." I added.

The girl's big violet eyes looked at us in regret. "Oh. I'm so sorry." She said delicately. "You know what, I wasn't on my shift earlier, and maybe she came in when someone else was here. Wait right here, I'll go ask."

She left through a door behind the desk, coming back a short moment later. "Down the hall over there, first recovery room on the left. I think she might be in there."

"Thank you."

_**-x-**_

_When they came to the door, they stopped, looking through the small square of glass centered near the top of it. They both let out their long-held breath as they opened it._

_"Angela, you awake?" Kurtis said, kneeling at the bedside and taking a hold of his sister's hand. She opened one eye to see them._

_"Do I look awake to you?" Angela replied with a sleepy voice. With hearing her usual sarcastic tone, it gave them a feeling of reassurance, and amusement at the way she spoke. Angela sat up in the bed. Then her face scrunched, looking at Lara and Kurtis in an almost over-dramatized disgusted way. "What the hell happened to you two? You look like you just got out of a train wreck!"_

_"Uh, we'll explain later." Kurtis said. "Right now, I need to talk to you about something. Something that Callegar mentioned."_

_"Callegar? You saw him?"_

_"We talked to him. Or, Lara talked to him, actually." Kurtis said, glancing up at Lara. He kept his gaze on her dark brown eyes for a moment, ready to say something to her. "You mind if I talk to Ang for a minute?"_

_Lara shook her head. "No, not at all." She waited for a second, then left through the door they'd come through, waiting out in the hall._

_As Kurtis turned back to Angela, he saw a smug smile appear on her face. "What?" He asked, slightly annoyed by her devilish expression. He lost thought of what he was planning on talking to her about as soon as he heard her next words._

_"You kissed her, didn't you?"_

_Kurtis's face flushed a deep red. "What the fu—how did you know about that?"_

_The grin became wider and even more amused. "I could hear you from the moment you got to the sidewalk outside." She was talking about his thoughts. Kurtis wanted to smack himself in the face; he should have remembered to block his mind from Angela. But it was all that much harder when they were related by blood, and especially the fact that Angela was a psychic, something of a master at minds, meaning she had the easy hand at reading thoughts. He thought in regret, I shouldn't have been thinking about it anyway._

_He only became more outraged. "Why the hell were you listening, then?" His eyes darted quickly to the door, then back to his sibling, making sure no one else could hear._

_Angela limply put her hands up, motioning for him to calm down. "Whoah, chill out," She chuckled. "It's not like I'm gonna go around telling everyone you have a…crush on her." She snorted over the word 'crush'. This sent her into another fit of childlike giggles._

_Kurtis rolled his eyes. "God, you're such a brat."_

_"And you're such a drama queen!" Angela laughed uncontrollably. Kurtis paused for a moment, then, overwhelmed by his sister's actions, he let himself join in the laughter. After a minute or two of quieting down, Angela, with more composure and control, spoke up. "You know…well, I probably shouldn't be telling you this…but, well, isn't it obvious?"_

_Kurtis replied only with a confused look. Angela shut her eyes for a moment, frustrated that he didn't understand. Then she whispered: "She thinks about you, too."_

_Kurtis sighed, pushing back his hair away from his face. "Ang, you really need to learn how to stop barging in on people's minds. I'm serious."_

_"Well, excuse me, but it's not just thoughts for me, remember that. It's feelings, too. And the ones I've been feeling since all this started, have been really weird. And strong."_

_"Well, that's just too bad for you, huh?" Kurtis rejoined, becoming snappy._

_Angela felt a wave of annoyance, and, confirming her statement, it was coming from Kurtis. And he wasn't having any of it. "Look, I'm sorry, I know I should be minding my own business. And if you're trying to say there's nothing between you two—"_

_"For God's sake, Angela, there's nothing going on between me and Lara! Get the picture?" Kurtis exclaimed in defense impatiently, raising his voice a bit too much._

_"I wasn't finished." Angela said, sounding smaller and hushed after the short outburst."If you say there's nothing going on, then there's nothing going on." Her blue eyes were kindhearted."Either way, I know it was Lara's idea. And, besides, it wasn't really…hmm, how do I say it? It…it doesn't really count, if it happened that way." She put it as easily as she could; she would do anything to make her brother get out of his irritated temper._

_Kurtis tapped his fingers for a moment, thinking. "Yeah, whatever. Just…just pretend this conversation never happened, kay?" He finally said, giving some kind of compromised forgiveness._

_Angela blinked, smiling. "What conversation?"_

_**-x-**_

I stood up from the line of seats outside of the room, as Kurtis opened the door and closed it behind him. I noticed immediately, that, for once, he didn't make any eye contact with me. Which was something he generally didn't do.

"Kurtis? Are you alright?" I asked, but I hesitated with deciding whether or not to reach out a hand.

Giving me something of relief that things were normal, he finally looked up at me. And then, I regretted it again, making it my turn now to look somewhere else. Anywhere but his eyes.

"Uh-huh." He replied with a tilt of the head. "Everything's fine."

"Okay…" I said, not exactly knowing what else to say. "Well, the doctor that submitted Angela came by, he said the bullet was removed easily. She just needs a few hours of rest here, and then we can come get her in the morning. However, she'll need to take things easy for a while afterward."

"Good." Kurtis said. He seemed tired. Then again, so was I. "So, we should head back to the hotel then?"

"Absolutely." I agreed. "I feel like _crap_."


	11. Illusions

**Illusions **

After getting out of my ruined dress, I washed up and threw on a pair of faded navy-blue pajama shorts and a black camisole tank top. I went into the cabinet behind the mirror over the sink to find a small first-aid kit. With the flesh wound on my arm clean and free of dirt and blood, I took a thin bit of bandages and wrapped it around a few times to secure it. I put the kit back, and then went out into the living room in the center of the suite. Again, I found Kurtis sitting on the couch, and he didn't seem to notice my presence.

"So, what were you and Angela talking about?" I asked, sitting down on the opposite side of the sofa.

He shrugged, his eyes roaming and not really looking anywhere in particular. "We just…talked."

"Alright then…" I said after waiting for something else that never came. I kept thinking to myself that nothing was wrong; he was probably just tired from everything that had happened, and it was getting late. I changed the brief topic when neither of us spoke. "Did you happen to notice something strange about Callegar?"

He looked sideways at me. "No?" It sounded more like a question than an answer.

"What do you mean 'no'? Did you even see his eyes?"

"Uh…I guess. What about them?"

I stared at him, my mouth gaping. "Are you saying you didn't see?"

"See _what_?"

"His eyes! They _changed_."

Kurtis's brows furrowed, showing that he probably thought I must be crazy. "No, they didn't." He said slowly.

"Yes, they _did_." I sputtered. "And you didn't notice he looked different before?"

"…Lara, are you okay? Did that explosion get you in the head or something?"

"Kurtis, I'm _not_ crazy! I know what I saw!" I said, getting louder. "His eyes were green before, and they _changed_. Don't _tell_ me you couldn't see something so clear like that right in front of you."

"I mean it when I say this, Lara. They—_he_ didn't change. I was right behind you the whole time, and his eyes were definitely the same colour the entire way through. And I'm more than sure that they were never green."

I shook my head. "That's not possible." I breathed. "He shot Angela. And when he did, he didn't look anything like Callegar. But it _was_ him, and I know that I wasn't delusional when I saw the visible differences in both him and the shooter."

Kurtis's deep, intense eyes filled with confusion, and something of concern. "He looked exactly the same to me. Same height, same hair, same everything. I didn't recognize him as Callegar from behind, but when we met with him, I already knew that he'd been the one who tried to kill Angie." He put a hand to my forehead, perhaps checking for a temperature, and I could tell he was beginning to think there was something wrong with me. "Are you _sure_ you're okay?"

He pulled his hand away from me, and I rubbed my eyes. "I don't know. Maybe I _was_ just imagining it all…"

"Just go to bed. You need to chill for a while. You're overwhelmed, you're weak, and not to mention you've been completely sleep-deprived for the last few nights." Kurtis reminded me. "I don't think I have _ever_ seen someone fall asleep in a car or airplane so many freaking times in only three days." His last comment was meant to be humorous, I guessed, but he was still serious about the fact behind it.

"Well," I started. "I suppose you've got a point." I got up from the couch, about to leave for my room. "What about you? I haven't seen you at rest since we met up again in the first place, either."

Another shrug. "I'll go to sleep in a bit. I just need to…think through some things."

"Like?"

There was a pause of an almost eerie silence as my short question hung in the air. Then I sighed, sitting back down. "Like…what happened today?"

Kurtis didn't answer. _Hmm, so that's why you're being so quiet then_, I thought quizzically to myself.

Knowing no good would come out of a nonexistent conversation, I began again. "I'm sorry, Kurtis; I know I shouldn't have done that. And if you feel bad about it, then don't. It was _my_ idea in the first place. And if it weren't for that, we could have made it to your sister in time, and she wouldn't be in the hospital right now." I apologized. "I'm sorry for that, too."

"Well, don't be." Kurtis said instantly. "I'm not upset over some…some plan you devised to get into a locked room. And it's not your fault; Angela would've gotten hurt anyway. There was nothing we could do. Besides…" I could swear I saw that slight half-smile come onto his face again. "…it was a pretty good plan." There was a small glint of mischief in his eyes as they met mine. That did it.

"Oh. Well, I'll just be…going to bed now, then." I stammered in delayed reaction, getting up again. I was feeling an awkward mood building between us. "We'll talk in the morning. Good night, Kurtis."

I immediately walked back towards my division of the suite, and closed my door behind me. I collapsed on the bed, doing nothing but simply breathing for a few minutes in the dark. I pulled the covers over me, and then soon found it was too hot for all of them. I took off the bedspread, which caused most of the heat, leaving just the thin, white sheets left over on the bed.

I went to the tall door of the small balcony and opened it just a bit to let in the air. Before going back, I stayed there for a moment, admiring the night sky. It was deep and unfathomable, and perfectly clear- everything around me was illuminated by the mesmerizing light of the perfect moon. The black canvas was dotted with the sparkling, white flecks of stars across it. I'd never really taken time to marvel such beauty- and when I did, it was so many times more gorgeous than I would have ever thought it could be. I closed my eyes, the light almost feeling like warmth touching my face.

Taking in the last of it, I stepped out from the balcony and into the room once more, still keeping the door open a crack. I returned to the bed, and with the soft, bluish light beaming down onto me through the darkness, I finally, for once in what felt to be a very long time, fell into a deep sleep.

**_-x-_**

When I awoke, it was still dark. I looked at the electric clock on the dresser. It was about four in the morning. I moved the sheets off of me, and stepped onto the carpeted floor. The doors of the balcony were still open- it was a bit more chilled in the room now, but still humid. The sky was just barely lighter- instead of jet-black, it was a dark violet-blue. Finding that I couldn't make myself go back to sleep, I opened the door to my room and quietly stepped out.

I strolled down the short hall into the living room again- and stopped short when I saw that Kurtis had fallen asleep on the couch where I'd left him. I smiled; he looked so at peace when not awake. Taking my chances, I carefully crept around to the other side of the room, not wanting to disturb him.

I went over to my bags that were still lying on the table in the corner, and took out my MP3 player. Then I tiptoed back towards the center of the room, then sat down on the small, cushioned bench in the alcove beneath the window that partially encircled it, hoisting my legs up onto it. Leaning against the bit of wall on either side of the small niche, I put in the earbuds, and set the music on a low volume. After about five minutes of the tranquil peacefulness, I slowly started becoming tired again, and I drifted off into a light slumber, yet still somewhat awake.

I wasn't aware of anything, except for the faint sound of Evanescence's "_Lacrymosa_" humming in my ears. And I wasn't aware of time, either; my eyes slowly fluttered open, and I saw the morning light beginning to stream through the glass beside me. I yawned, rubbing the inner corners of my eyes. But I shut them once more, still too sleepy to get up. I was surprisingly comfortable on the soft seat. I began dozing off once more, but then was brought back by a sound.

I turned my head, and saw Kurtis squinting, shielding his eyes from the abrupt light in the window. As soon as he could clearly see, he grinned at me.

"Morning." He greeted me upon his wake, sitting up straight on the couch and stretching. "Hmm, so I guess you woke up before me then?"

I smirked. "Since when were we competing to see who'd get up first?"

He shrugged goofily. "I dunno. About two seconds ago."

That earned a full smile from me. _I guess he's a morning person, then_, I thought. _What a rare trait_. I got up from the bench, pulling out my earbuds as I joined him on the sofa.

"I thought you went to your room last night." He said questioningly as I sat down.

"I did, for a few hours. But I woke up."

"…And you came in _here_?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

I shook my head in amusement after I processed his words for a minute. "Oh, _do_ shut up. It's not like I was spying on you or anything."

"Or _were_ you?"

I laughed, and so did Kurtis. Everything felt so…normal. Like there were no worries, like nothing was going on outside at all. It was just like that morning at the café in Japan.

Getting over our last laughs, Kurtis looked at me considerately, as if he were about to comment on something. His tone of voice changed somehow as he spoke. "Anyone ever tell you that you have a great laugh?"

I gazed at him, surprised, yet still flattered at the compliment deep inside. "Er…excuse me?"

Kurtis sighed with something of a chuckle. Then his spellbinding blue eyes met mine again, and this time he didn't look away. There was a long pause of thought before he started again. "You want to know what me and Angela were talking about?"

"What?"

"You."

I held back the urge to blush, but I wasn't sure if I succeeded or not. "And what were you…saying about me, exactly?"

"Well, she already knew about what happened in the security room…"

My jaw dropped. "Oh, God. You're kidding, right?"

"No, unfortunately…" He trailed off, then began again slowly. "But I thought about it after and…God, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I was actually pretty bummed when that guard came up."

There was no doubt that my cheeks had turned tomato red by then. Had he just admitted that he…_liked_ what had happened between us?

_Oh my goodness, Lara,_ I began thinking again. _Just stop it. Nothing 'happened' between us, for the love of God. Get yourself together…_

Kurtis was still looking at me, as if he were trying to read something off of me. At that moment, I could have given anything to know his thoughts. And suddenly, I felt awfully insecure, as I wondered if _he_ could read _mine_ like he was able to with Angela. I tried not to think if that had been possible this whole time- actually, I tried not to think at all. But I couldn't be sure if it was working. I figured, that focusing on trying _not_ to think, was turning to make me do the exact opposite, forcing many more thoughts into my head_. Maybe that's what everyone keeps telling me_, another idea flowed into my mind unwillingly. _Have I actually, for once in my life, been worrying too much?_

Despite the time that was rapidly going away in seconds, or perhaps minutes, by all my random thinking, I didn't fail to notice that Kurtis's eyes hadn't ceased their curious lock on mine. I sensed him lean in closer to me, gradually only inches from my face- and there, I thought another chance of our lips meeting again was present –but that chance became slim, as I nearly jumped at the sound of my PDA ringing loudly against the defiant silence. Kurtis moved away, somehow seeming a bit disappointed, and I sighed, reaching over to the glass coffee table and grabbing the phone with my timid fingers.

"Zip." I said in a low tone, instantly knowing it was him without checking the ID.

"Morning. So, did you survive the night?"

"Actually, I did. I had a surprisingly wonderful sleep, no mental interruptions whatsoever."

I could almost hear Zip smiling on the other end. "That's good to hear. I thought you might go insane with all those lost hours of sleep."

_I think I already have_…I pondered, not sure what it meant, but that it was valid in one way or another. "Don't tell me you're going to start calling me every hour when I'm not in the house." I questioned.

"What, was _I_ interrupting something?"

I glimpsed over my shoulder at Kurtis, who didn't take mind of me talking on the phone. He'd gotten up and started to his room.

"No." I half-lied in return shortly afterward with a quiet voice, mindlessly fixing the black straps on one of my shoulders that had probably slipped while I was sleeping.

"Well then why are you complaining?" Zip asked again.

"I'm not complaining. I'm just stating that there's no logical reason for you to keep calling me so often, that's all."

"Fine. I'll take the calls down a notch. Besides, I'm probably wastin' your minutes anyway." Zip gave in.

"Exactly."

I heard a breath of hesitation come from him after a pause. "I'm just kinda worried about you, y'know? I've probably already told you this like a million times before, but you've been acting strange lately. I know you've got tons on your mind, but Lara, I'm asking you again, to _please_ take it easy. I'd hate myself if I lost another friend."

I frowned, wondering why everyone kept telling me the same thing. Was I really acting differently than I always have?

"Zip, I appreciate you being such a caring friend to me, but believe me, I'll be perfectly fine. I've got Kurtis and Angela with me, and we'll be getting home soon…"

"That's not really what I meant, Lara…" He cut me off quietly.

I rolled my eyes, realizing the horrible thing he might have been suspecting. "Zip, you don't think I'm going to turn suicidal or anything like that, do you? It's been months since all of that happened, and I _have_ a life, and people I still care about, why would I take that away from myself, especially when I _could_ have done so all that time back? When I was actually grieving?"

"No, no, 'course not, but…well, I'm just sayin', you may have a life, but it's a tough one." Zip explained with reason. "And I know you say you're over it all, but how can you be? You got hit with it all at once. Your parents, the manor, Alister, Winston…" Another break. "And now you're dealing with your past comin' back for you and everything. It's like the definition of self-apocalypse! How do you _deal_ with all that?"

"Alright, I understand what you meant by the first part, but where on Earth do you get my 'past coming back to get me' from?"

"You're jokin', right? All these random murders that the police came asking _you_ about, bringing up what happened with your mentor? And, Kurtis, he's involved with that too. You had some kinda…thing or affair with him, and it was around the time that all went down, too, right?"

If he had been beside me, I could have smacked him right there and then. "_No_, I _never_ had a 'thing' with him, Zip. He was just helping me. I didn't even _know_ him well enough all those years ago, so how can you suspect I have an affair with someone I've only been around for hardly two days?" I snapped in defense. "I haven't the _slightest_ clue where everyone keeps getting these _absurd_ ideas from!"

Zip huffed in frustration, and I was surprised that he was actually getting angry with me. He'd always been the one who kept calm. "Okay, whatever you say, Lara. Just go do whatever the hell you need to do, and get back quickly, kay? Talk to you later."

He immediately hung up. I dropped the phone from my ear, staring at it in my hand as the line went dead.

"What was that all about?" I looked up to see that Kurtis had gotten quickly changed and emerged from his bedroom within the past minute or so.

I got up indignantly, going over to my bags and stuffing the PDA in one of the pockets. "It was nothing. Zip just wants us to get back as soon as possible." I answered almost inaudibly through a mumble.

I picked up the bags, whizzing straight past Kurtis, and headed for my room, where I exchanged my shorts for a pair of dark jeans, and I tucked them into my black boots. I brushed out my hair into a long ponytail that hung down past my shoulder blades, and decided it was too hot for a jacket, so I kept the lightweight camisole on by itself. I left my room as soon as I had everything together.

"Kurtis, I advise you to go pack Angela's things. And perhaps get some clean clothing ready for her so we can leave immediately from the hospital."

"Um. Okay then." Kurtis replied, seeming confused by my hastiness, but he did as I told. We departed from the hotel, and headed off to get Angela.

_**-x-**_

_"You told us she was dead."_

_Amanda was, undoubtedly, furious out of her mind. The Doppelganger had betrayed her orders, and now she had hell to pay._

_The superhuman clone of Lara stood before her and Callegar. "I never stated she was. I only confirmed that I did what you told me to. And that was only to get the Lux Veritatis weapon and return it to you."_

_"And to kill Lara." Amanda repeated herself._

_"I believe Callegar said only to kill her if she appeared." The Doppelganger corrected her once more. "And not necessarily for I myself to kill her, but to lead her into a trap. Those were my only orders, and I chose to follow them. I did only what I was told and nothing otherwise."_

_Amanda crossed her arms triumphantly over her chest, clenching her jaw. "You're wrong."_

_"No, Amanda, she isn't." Callegar interrupted. Amanda didn't remove her icy gaze from the Doppelganger. "She's right. That was all I told her to do, and that is exactly what she did. Of course, she didn't have to."_

_The Doppelganger's head tilted meekly, and she began to faintly wonder why she did choose to follow their orders anyway. She didn't have to; she had a choice. She didn't belong to anyone anymore. 'But I was built to kill,' she thought, reminding herself of what she was. Then again, she remembered that she'd saved lives before, too- and recently. She'd saved her human counterpart two, perhaps even three or four times, some without Lara even noticing it._

_Even under Natla's control, she had stopped Lara from being killed by Amanda. And then she had prevented her planned death, beneath the crypt of the Manor only a day or two ago. Last night she'd even brought the life of a dying human to safety in order to help and keep trust with her weaker double. She also wondered, why and how was she was working both sides? Or if she was even working for either side at all. She passed off her unanswered thoughts quickly, and let her mind remain void._

_Callegar talked briefly to the Doppelganger for another moment or so, Amanda in too much of a huff to give a damn. The Doppelganger departed once they were finished._

_"How do you know she's telling the truth?" Amanda asked in a demanding tone. "How do you know she isn't helping them?"_

_"She is telling the truth." Callegar replied with an ease. "But I do know she is helping them. That's why I'm letting her do her job."_

_Amanda shook her head in disgust. "You have no idea what you're doing. If you know she's helping them, then why haven't you gotten rid of her yet? She'll just be an easy spy for them, won't she?"_

_"No, not if they don't know she's helping us as well." Callegar explained. "Amanda, don't try to take matters into your own hands. The only one who doesn't know what they're doing around here is you."_

_Amanda narrowed her eyes bitterly at the menacing man. "Why do we need to keep Lara alive? I thought you told me I could have revenge. When the hell am I gonna get anything out of this?" She realized she had begun to yell, though she still felt small and useless beside Callegar's powerful presence. "We had a deal, Callegar. I help you, you help me. Now how many times do I have to ask for what I need?"_

_Callegar looked at the pixie-haired woman with his cold, frightening eyes. Amanda felt an uncomfortable chill down her spine at his stare. "You don't need revenge, Amanda. You want it." He started. "And I've already told you why we need your friend to stay alive, at least for a while to come."_

_"First off, she's not my friend." Amanda droned. "Secondly, you've barely begun to explain your whole plan to me, or at least not the part where Lara comes in. If you need her to stay alive so badly, then why did you risk the chance of her Doppelganger killing her in the first place?"_

_"Because I knew she wouldn't let her die. Lara's done too much to help her- being freed from her eternal slavery was the greatest thing that could happen to her. Unfortunately, she isn't putting it to much good use…" Callegar began again._

_"And what about the others? Those telepaths or whatever they are. What's so important about them?"_

_"Kurtis, too, needs to be kept alive. He and Lara both. At least until the time is right." Callegar said in a way that seemed almost as though he were brainstorming. Amanda didn't say anything, she couldn't even begin to comprehend what she was being told, so he continued. "Angela…Angela is a different case, however, which is too complicated for me to explain for you at the moment. Though she as well, is better off alive. For now its best we let things play out, and eventually we'll be able to make use or decoy out of her."_

_Amanda, for some reason, felt her hands getting slightly cold beneath the long sleeves of her black jacket. She wanted to know what roles all these people played in this twisted, mastermind idea of Callegar's, of which she only knew bits and pieces of. But she couldn't stop the questions from rolling out of her mouth._

_"But why? What is so damn important about them? Is it so hard to just go ahead and get rid of them?" She balled her hands into fists, feeling a strange mix of emotions that somehow didn't seem to fit the mood she had in her mind. "If I don't get things done soon, I'll just go right ahead and do it my way."_

_Callegar darted a furious glare at Amanda, and in seconds clutched her tightly by the arm. He spoke so deep and solemnly, and so direct to Amanda, that she was afraid he might kill her on the spot._

_"Mark my words, Miss Evert, if you ever attempt to do any such thing, all will be lost, and you will wish you were never born." His eyes were close to Amanda's, cutting straight into her soul. She felt cold all of a sudden, and his grip on her arm was so strong, she felt as though if he moved even the slightest bit, her entire bone would break in two._

_His threatening voice near her ear sent nightmares running through her mind. "Do not in any way try to hurt them; don't even speak of it to the Doppelganger. If she, or anyone else, gets a false hint that you or I want them dead, and if a murder is attempted on any of the three of them, you will never see daylight again. Do you understand, Amanda?"_

_Amanda's breath came in quiet, short gasps, and she realized her entire body was trembling from a chill. She nodded, pleading for Callegar to let go. He released her, and she stood, feeling weak in all her joints, even though he had only been holding her upper arm. He stared at her for another moment with sharp eyes, and left her in the room alone._

_Amanda already knew that he was unlike other people, that he was special in some way, like Angela and Kurtis were. She knew, firsthand, that he played tricks on minds, and that only moments ago, she could have died if he didn't let go of her soon enough. She already felt more than half of her energy drained from her body, as he had started taking the warmth and life right out of her._

_'Oh God…' Amanda thought, sinking down to the floor, her knees weak and her hands frail. 'What have I done?'_


	12. Addicted

**Addicted **

When we walked through the door to Angela's recovery room, the first thing I noticed was her, asleep in the bed- yet she didn't seem at peace, like Kurtis had been when I found him in a slumber. She tossed and turned slightly in her sheets, and she wore a meekly distressed facial expression that must've been her self-conscious reaction to whatever events were taking place in her mind.

Kurtis sat down on the edge of the bed, tapping his sister's arm and taking her gently by the wrist. "Angie, wake up. _Angela_."

He put a palm to her face in worry as she blinked her eyes open in response. I stood beside, waiting for Angela to awaken to her surroundings.

"Oh, god, Kurtis." She said once she saw us. She reached her arms out to him and gave him a sisterly embrace.

"Nightmares?" He asked once she was finished. She nodded with a frown and a vacant, faded look to her sea-blue eyes. She certainly wasn't happy with whatever she had seen.

"Yeah. But…I'm fine now." She said, trying to make us forget about it. "Is it time to leave yet?"

I smiled. "It is. We have all your things packed, and a change of clothes. We're leaving for England as soon as the release forms are signed."

_**-x-**_

About two hours later, we were driving to the nearest airport. Our flights had already been booked with the aid of Zip's connections, and we were up in the air before I even realized it.

Luckily, the plane wasn't crowded, to my surprise. There were few seats here and there throughout that were completely empty. Kurtis and I shared two, while Angela had her own double seats to herself behind us, where she nestled in as soon as we got on board, and had fallen asleep once again.

With being mostly caught up with my irregular pattern of sleep, I didn't feel tired, so the plane trip was much longer than the other ones that we'd taken recently. I had nothing to do but look out the small, circular window into the glowing, creamy white clouds around us.

"Hey, Lara, I think your PDA is going off." Kurtis said to me, nudging my elbow and motioning to my bag. I looked down at it just to show that I acknowledged his words, but I already knew it had been ringing for the past few minutes. I ignored it, looking out the window again.

"Let it be. I don't feel like talking to Zip right now."

"Why not…?"

I shrugged. "He was a bit angry with me earlier this morning. I suppose I'm just giving him a silent treatment for now."

Kurtis thought over that with a slow nod. "Got it." He said indifferently, and the conversation faded out again. Then it started up an instant later. "What are you thinking about?"

"What?"

"I asked, what are you thinking about? You seem like you're in deep thought or something." Kurtis repeated with elaboration.

I lifted a shoulder again. "I'm not really sure. Just…everything, in general." Then I stopped, becoming a bit confused at why he'd asked. "Hold on, I thought you and Angela were telepathic…?"

"Yeah, more her than me, though, by a lot." Kurtis admitted. "It's not easy for me to read people like she can. I can read thoughts sometimes, even interrupt them with my own, but it's difficult and it takes time and concentration. I'm more of the 'physical power' one." He clarified with a small laugh. "Angela can't do anything outside of her own body, it's all up here for her." He tapped the side of his head in support to his explanation.

"So, you have a bit of both…while Angela's are all based on pure psychics?"

"Exactly. But because of that, my abilities are still always considered stronger in terms of controlling them than hers. She's vulnerable to anyone, especially because her mind affects her so drastically." Kurtis continued. "Because everything has to do with her mind, she doesn't even have to _try_ to read people. Their thoughts naturally just flow into her at any time if they're not properly protected or blocked. And, she's an empath, as well, which means she also feels the emotions of those around her." He paused. "It was so difficult for her when she was younger- it'd almost killed her more than once. But now, apparently, she's learned to deal with it on her own, and by having so many feelings and thoughts put into her, her perception is changed, and she's become so careless about everything. That's why she always ends up getting into trouble, because she always takes the first risky opportunity that comes to her hands."

It seemed as though a door had been opened in my brain. That certainly explained all her awkward or unexplained moments. "And what about you? So far I only know of the telekinetic abilities. Is there nothing else?"

"Well, that's not the only thing." He glimpsed at me, moving closer, looking ready to share some kind of secret. "There's this other thing- it's hard to explain –but it's kinda half physical, half mental. I call it farseeing. It's also not very easy to do, at least not often. I guess you can say it's like an outer-body type of experience, like removing your mind from your being to see in other places that you can't reach." He let in another break, being sure that I got all the information. "But it can't last for too long, or I'd pass out from lack of physical consciousness, meaning I'd basically have to be holding my breath until my mind came back to me. And another simple, yet handy, ability I have is self-healing. That's pretty much the only reason why I survived that night in the Strahov." He went on.

My face shifted in astonishment. "You mean…you're _immortal_?"

"Hah, in my dreams." Kurtis said, amused. "God, no, I'm not immortal. Not even _close_. But you can think of it this way- I have much higher and longer tolerance to pain than other people. Wounds heal faster, depending on how serious they are." He stopped, hesitantly. Then he reached over to grab the Chirugai. The blades extracted from the circular disc, but it didn't move at all like it usually did. It was just sitting in his hands. My eyes became wide as it dawned on me what he was about to do.

"_Kurtis_-" I tried to stop his actions, but it was done. In the blink of an eye he'd pulled one of the razor-sharp edges into and over the skin of his wrist, creating a gash at the surface. I became horrified as I saw the cherry-red blood seeping out. "Kurtis, are you _insane_?"

"Just watch." He said, hushing at me. I uncertainly did as he told. And what I did see was astounding. The gash that severed into the veins of his hand was slowly becoming smaller and faded, and in seconds it was gone completely- there wasn't even a bump or ridge left over from the cut. However, the small line of blood that had escaped still remained at the surface. Kurtis used one of the tissues that were packaged in the seat pockets in front of us to wipe it away. The skin beneath was perfectly smooth and untouched as it had been before.

"That's only with minor wounds." He explained further after it was done. "But if they're bigger and more major, like the one Boaz gave me, it takes much more time to heal. And it definitely leaves scars. But it still isn't as long as it would take for a regular person's to heal up, and it's much less painful in the process."

"Hmm…so, if I were to shoot you in the head right now, all you would get is a minor migraine?" I said, in a drastically joking tone. Kurtis laughed again.

"No, no, I'm pretty sure I would just drop dead like every other human being would." He answered, making me grin gleefully.

In that moment of some light joy, that feeling was turned around as my heart dropped and my stomach churned, feeling the plane jerk downwards. Instinctively, I plastered my arm to the rest between the two seats, and unknowingly I'd grabbed Kurtis's hand whilst doing so. I held on to it forcefully, shutting my eyes, until the dreaded feeling went away. I opened my eyes again, but somehow I forgot to let go of the hand I was sure that I'd almost cut circulation out of.

"Sorry." I apologized in a whisper, slowly releasing my grip on him.

Kurtis looked down at our hands, then back up at me in sympathy. "It's okay. You don't have to say sorry. It's not weird to freak out at plane turbulence."

It made me feel better that he understood. "I know, it's just…" I let out a deep breath that I'd been holding. "I really do hate planes."

He smiled at me, then tenderly took back my hand in his. "Then I guess you shouldn't let go."

I barely allowed my hand to rest, feeling a bit strange, until another movement of the aircraft caused me to constrict it around Kurtis's again. A dim orangey light flashed on the bar above us, signaling for the seatbelts to be secured. We did that as soon as we were told to do so, and I found myself returning my hand to Kurtis's once more. And this time, I relaxed, and soon realized that not only were our hands clasped together, but our fingers were now intertwined. The awkwardness was no longer present, and the only feeling I got was…safety. That I was safe here, with Kurtis at my side. And after minutes passed by and by, I actually felt tired again, and I longed to use Kurtis's shoulder as a resting place- but I was too hesitant at the notion, afraid that that might be past the limit.

I heard Kurtis sigh, and I glanced at him. "Go ahead." He said, as if replying to my thoughts.

"Wha- I thought you said you couldn't read minds easily?" I said in an almost playfully suspicious way.

"Yeah, but you're tired, which makes it easier, and I've had about half an hour to try." He said with that smug smirk of his. I returned that with my own, and proceeded to settle my head on his shoulder, knowing he didn't mind.

I was reminded in the back of my brain that I'd actually already done this before, but in my state of unawareness. And still yet, even though I _was_now aware of it, I was completely comfortable and at ease.

I'd started dozing off soon enough, up until the plane experienced more turbulence. If I had been counting correctly, there had been those moments more than five times by now. And now they were coming closer to one another, and suddenly my breathing became heavy.

"Lara?" Kurtis finally asked once he noticed that I had begun to panic. I didn't move from my place, but I replied quietly.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." I said, with my voice unwillingly shaky. I found myself continuing to hold tighter to him.

"Alright, stop lying. You're not fine, and you know it. What's going on? Since when were you afraid of planes?" I could feel his warm breath on my head as he spoke.

"I'm not afraid of planes…I just…I don't have a high liking of planes that keep having unexpected movement." I tried to explain, but knew I didn't make much sense.

"Why?"

"Well, you see, that's what happened when my mother died a long time ago." I still didn't look up at him when I said it, but I could feel him looking down at me. "Zip didn't tell you everything, did he? I was eight years old, and we were on a skiing trip. The plane crashed in the Himalayan mountain range in Nepal. My mother and I were the only ones who survived." I stopped, trying to remember everything. "We went into an abandoned monastery, where the first stone dais was located. He did tell you about that, yes?"

"Right." Kurtis answered. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize-"

"Don't fret about it, Kurtis. You didn't know." I broke in. Quietness settled again, and with no more noticeable roughness of the plane, I continued my originally started nap. And once again, that was interrupted with a sudden sound.

"Alright, what the hell is going on here?" I heard Angela behind me and overhead, startling me by her abruptly loud voice. Kurtis and I looked up at her. She seemed like she'd been awake for some time now.

"What? Nothing's going on." Kurtis said, stealing a look at me. "How long have you been up?"

"For like the past hour. Well. Sorta. You two really need to learn to quiet down." She complained. "You just never run out of things to talk about, do you? Oh, and not to mention, you have an endless supply of things to _think_ about, too."

Kurtis shot a dull glare at her. "Angela, _what_ did I tell you before?"

Angela folded her arms over the head of the seat and rested her chin on them. "Um…don't steal cookies from little children?"

"_Angela!_" Kurtis reprimanded. "Stop screwing around, you know what I'm talking about."

As I watched their quick banter, I vaguely remembered that when Angela had first told us she was a psychic, she'd claimed she couldn't even read minds. _Perhaps she wasn't so sure of trusting us at that time, then, and went right along by lying about it. And maybe,_ I continued to brainstorm. …_she's actually becoming stronger._

"Alright, _fine_, I'll stop." Angela retorted, putting her hands up in yield. She then assumed her original position, but not before I noticed something peculiar.

"Angela, what did you do to your _hand_?" I asked worriedly, furrowing my eyebrows at her as I reached out for her right hand for a closer look. She looked down, and quickly pulled her arms back before I could make contact, tugging the long sleeves of her black shirt over her palms.

"Nothing. It's just a scratch." She replied immediately. I stared at her oddly for a moment, then passed it off. I wondered, carefully, so neither of them would hear, why she'd been so defensive about a little cut_. Must have been one hell of a scratch_.

_**-x-**_

"My stomach really hurts." Angela had been crabby about the healing wound in her abdomen the entire drive back to the mansion. We were pulling into the driveway when she started up again. "Could I take an Advil or something?"

Kurtis and I got out of the car to take up the luggage from the back. Angela followed, but she had a nasty, troubled expression.

"Just go inside the house, ask Zip if he can help you. I'm not sure if an Advil, or any other drug, would help the pain of a wound go away, however." I started. "The doctor said to take it easy; perhaps you just need more rest."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever…" Angela trailed off as she walked reluctantly to the entrance of the home.

Kurtis passed a bag to me, and I took it slowly. "She's so much like you, you know, it's not even funny."

Kurtis bit his lip in wonder. "How? Sure, I know she looks like me, but what more can we possibly have in common?"

I was genuinely stunned that he asked this, especially since their similar traits were all so noticeable. "Well, for instance, if she's in a bad mood," I nodded in the direction Angela trudged off in. "...then she's _really_ in a bad mood."

He stopped midway while picking up another item of luggage. "What's that supposed to mean?" He said, glaring.

"Ah, well, you have to admit, you do have a bit of a temper."

"It's not called 'having a bit of a temper', it's called being _protective_." Kurtis huffed. After doing so, he put the bag down and stood in deep thought, as if he'd just been told wrong with his own words. "Okay, that didn't come out right." He finally said.

I pursed my lips sardonically. "Of course it didn't."

We went over all the things that had taken place after the headset connection broke off in Vegas. Zip and Angela still didn't know that half of the story, therefore we needed to elaborate the discussion we had with Callegar.

"…and apparently that factory is in Venice." I said, finishing off a statement.

"Okay. Great. So we're going to Venice?" Angela said, following up.

"Er…well, I'm not sure if you should come along this time. You need quite a while to get healed completely; I don't think it would be the brightest idea to bring you with us." I answered skeptically.

"Fine. God, I can't believe Callegar did this to me." Angela muttered. "That man has one screwed up mind. I should have known it was him."

"What makes you say that?" I questioned, confused about her finishing statement.

"Because he didn't _look_ like Callegar when I almost _died_?"

I shot a straight look at Kurtis, to which he replied baffled. "Whoah, wait, so you saw this 'thing' happen to him too? Why the hell didn't _I_ notice anything?"

"Maybe you were too pissed off at him to pay attention." Angela considered ironically. "And _maybe_ you didn't notice 'cause you were too busy thinking about someone _else_ in the room."

"Stay the hell out of my mind, Angela."

"Make me."

Kurtis rolled his eyes and gave up. I piped in after they stopped their short argument. However, I avoided questioning Angela's statement about Kurtis's thoughts. "There must be some kind of real explanation as to why you didn't see. Now, I'm more than sure that Callegar is _not_ a normal person."

"No shit." Kurtis gave out a dry scoff. "He's…a mind freak." He stated with simplicity, referring to the adjective he'd used to describe himself the other day.

"Now that, my dear brother, deserves an award for being probably the smartest thing I've ever heard you say." Angela whirred sarcastically.

It became clear to me that this was the only time I'd ever seen them both in a bad mood- and at the same time. The idea of them possibly having a silent mind-to-mind argument seemed like the only reasonable explanation I could think of their behaviour. They scowled at one another, periodically rolling their eyes or shaking their heads.

"Wait." Zip finally came into the conversation. "Didn't you say that Callegar was part of that…um, what was it called?"

"The Cabal…?" I asked, then transferring the question over to Kurtis.

"Not really…I mean, yeah, his father was part of it, and he eventually started taking up on his intentions just before he left, but that doesn't explain anything about him." He answered. "Then again, if he _is_, by any chance, even part Nephilim, that would make sense that he 'changed'."

I shook my head slowly. "No, he isn't. I don't know how I'm sure, but I am. If he were part Nephilim, then he would be able to fully change. To shape-shift. What happened with him was just a few tweaks on his appearance, like his eyes and build. But most everything else, actually seemed to be similar to what he really looked like."

"Well, true. It was funny, actually, when we all used to be friends with him, in the legion. I thought he might have possibly been Lux Veritatis…until I found out where his family really came from." Kurtis added. "Besides, if he were even a small part Nephilim, his father or mother would probably have to be one, since he's mostly human." Then he shifted thoughts. "Unless he was just a result of some freakish experiment…"

That clicked something in my memory. "The experiments in the factories. There was that man, remember? _He_ looked as though he'd been through some kind of psychotic operation gone wrong."

Angela made a hushed cough, as if she were uncomfortable about something. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go use the bathroom…" She said, standing up.

"_Fasinating_. I'll alert the media!" Kurtis said in a heavily cynical reply.

"Go to hell, Kurtis." Angela hissed at her brother.

"Funny, seeing as I'm _looking_ at the Devil itself."

"Oh, yeah, you _are_ funny. God, you're so hilarious, I can't even get over how amused I am." Angela replied flatly as she walked irritably away from the room.

"Wow, my brain hurts." Kurtis sighed.

"Agreed." Zip said. "I don't understand a single thing you guys are talking about." He started towards his room. "So, _I'll_ be crashing in front of my Xbox if you need me."

After he left, Kurtis and I were alone. I tried to think of something to say, then remembered I'd wanted to take a visit to my original home again. "Kurtis, you've never seen the inside of the Manor in Surrey before, have you?"

"No, don't think I have."

I smiled slightly. "Then I think it's about time you did. And there might be something in my father's study that could help figuring this out."

**_-x-_**

I stepped into the great, empty foyer, Kurtis following behind. He looked around in awe.

"Wow…" He said. "This place is incredible. And your evil twin just had to go and destroy it, huh?"

I laughed to myself. "She didn't have a choice, but I suppose it's alright to hold a little grudge against her for that." I leaned a hand on one of the support columns that held up the landing above us, reminiscing. "I grew up in this home."

I watched as he wandered around the massive, vaulted-roof room. Once he was finished, he came back to me. "So, where's this study?"

I walked a few feet to the right over to the door leading down into the crypt, opening it to reveal the webbed and dusty stone staircase. "Down there." I said, pointing into the darkness. He looked at me skeptically.

"Down _there_?" He repeated. I nodded, and started descending the steps. Kurtis followed, though we found it difficult to see clearly without bringing any source of light. But I knew we'd be fine once we got down below.

"Kay, Lara, I know I'm not usually one to say things like this, but you have to admit, this is _creepy_."

I looked up at him from my kneeling position on the floor beneath the switch for opening the entrance. "So I see Zip isn't the only one who's fond of describing things with that word." I said, as I recalled him saying the exact same thing when he'd been down here.

I continued to feel around the side for the switch as he answered again. "Well, it's true. Not really so much the place itself, I'm fine with it, hell I've been in places that scared the living shit out of me, but the fact that you have _dead people_ just beneath your feet…like, I know you're all into tombs and stuff, but isn't this taking it a bit too far?"

I moved back from the grave once it pulled open to make way for us. "It's a family crypt, Kurtis. Plenty of people who have aristocratic or wealthy, high-class lineages have one; it's traditional."

It took a bit longer to get into the study than usual, mostly because I had Kurtis tagging along with me, and that basically meant we had to do everything twice. By the time we did get in, we were just about ready to collapse. Why it was always so hard to get into a place, just to find that you could take a straight and linear path to exit, was a question my mind has never been able to answer. And the worst part about it all, was that after looking around the entire study for what felt to be hours, we found absolutely nothing that would help. The only fully detailed documents were the ones that were no longer of any use. I was sure that there were many, many more documents and articles of research that my father had stored away, but I wasn't sure where. Both Kurtis and I concluded, that none of them were to be found down here.

We headed back for the surface.

"Huh. That wasn't much help…" Kurtis said, disappointed.

I chewed at the inside of my lip. "I guess not. But I know my father had other files, somewhere…maybe in the library. The only problem is that if they _were_ in the library, they're all gone now."

"So…what now?"

_Good question_, I thought. "Well, I could give you a tour, if you'd like."

"Sure."

I didn't really know where to start. There really wasn't much to see on the inside anymore, because the furniture and other accessories were still yet to be placed back in. So I figured I should just begin with the outside.

"I'm afraid there really isn't much to show besides the architecture- but if you stick around long enough, perhaps you could see the manor once the entire redesign is finished."

Once we were in the grounds out back, I realized I hadn't been there for a long time. It was even more surprising as it came to me that I'd hardly even spent time inside my home at all. I looked the beautifully scenic area over with my eyes, memories flooding back into my mind.

Kurtis seemed to be just as amazed with the place as I was, if not more. "How…how rich did you say your family was again?"

I chuckled at the joke. "Extremely."

Then my eyes landed on the low, stone wall that encircled the entire perimeter. Farther away past the wall, I remembered, was a place that I'd used to visit all the time. It was the small bit of woods that divided the Manor from the rest of the city, and when I was younger, it was where I would go whenever I needed an escape from everything else. It'd been a place for me to stay and ponder out my thoughts, and it had become a bit of a sentimental safe haven. I hadn't been there since my father disappeared.

An idea sprung to me, but I wasn't sure if I would follow through with it. Yet, acting on first impulse, I did.

"Follow me. I have to show you something."

Leading him over the wall, following my old routine, I started off into the distance towards the bundles of trees. It didn't take a long time at all to get into the small, woodsy circle of forest, yet we couldn't help but run. The burst of freedom I had as a child came rushing back to me as the wind swept beneath my hair.

The canopy of deep green leaves overhead had grown much thicker over the years, but still, the bright, orangey rays of the afternoon summer sun continued to beam through, creating almost a sparkle on the rest of the vegetation around us. Beneath our feet was soft, jade grass, with the roots of the tall, wide trees winding through like snakes in a river.

And so we stood, in the center of the glittering green circle, wordless.

"So?" Kurtis asked after a bit.

"So…what?"

"Is this what you wanted to show me?"

I nodded, suddenly feeling distracted at the way the light and vivid colour surrounding us brought out the blue of his eyes- by a lot. I was sure that I was staring again, but he was too preoccupied looking at the forest to make note of it.

"This...this is a place I used to visit every morning when I was a girl. Ever since my mother disappeared, up to the time that my father passed away." I reflected. "It's always been so peaceful, so easy to let your mind process things. Almost like my own little sanctuary."

Kurtis tilted his head at me. "A sanctuary. So it's pretty important to you then, huh?"

"Mmhm." I hummed, sitting down on a small slope beneath the thick trunk of a tree.

"It really is amazing." Kurtis admitted, joining me on the grassy ground. Then he looked me over, in that odd but dreamy way. "You know, I never got you back for that."

My expression twisted in puzzlement. I had no clue what he was talking about. "For what?"

"For this."

He leaned in towards me, becoming so close I could sense the warmth of his body. My heart skipped a beat as I felt his hand skim the edge of my jaw, slowly moving to the back of my neck, pulling me closer to him. I eyed him hesitantly, considering retreating from the gesture. I became angry with myself at not wanting to reject him, not being able to. But I mulled over this too slowly, because right then our lips met. I involuntarily went lightheaded again, as all my thoughts melted away. It was different from the act in the casino- but in either way, I couldn't keep myself from giving in. I almost uncontrollably returned the kiss, and with my positive reaction, Kurtis continued.

I ended up with my fingers gently running through his cool, soft hair again, in the midst of fervent kisses and very little amounts of breath. My cheek brushed his as he bent down to kiss my throat, then down to the bone of my neckline. Whilst doing so, he cradled the back of my head just behind my ear, pushing away the stray fringes of hair that escaped from my ponytail with strong fingers. My eyes fluttered in sweet delight at the feeling of it.

I slightly managed to notice that our legs were just barely overlapping, in result of our seats on the ground beneath the tree. Seeing this, I moved my foot so it brushed over his, feeling almost seductive- but then I thought, how much better it would have been if it were bare skin. I felt Kurtis smile against my mouth, where he'd returned focus to, and playfully he nudged his own foot back at me. I almost wanted to laugh, a faint childhood memory taking my thoughts, over how playing footsies with someone always signified to everyone else that you had a crush on that person. I thought over this with hilarity as the deep, continuous kisses slowly came to an end.

Kurtis's eyes met mine again as we separated, though still sitting close, and his hands remained on my arms.

"If that's your idea of getting back at me, then you're not very original." I teased, holding back a grin, for he'd jumped me the same way I did. He shot me a radically triumphant smirk, as though he'd found success.

"Mm…revenge is sweet."

For a split second, I was almost glad it had stopped. I realized, it was a devilish, little lie hidden beneath the illusion that this was everything I had longed for- it was alluring, and he, to my misfortune, was completely irresistible. I suddenly felt sick, like everything was wrong. In my better judgment, I knew it wasn't real. It never could be. What we were doing was a mistake- what _I _was doing was a mistake.

No. This isn't supposed to happen. This was never supposed to happen.

_It's like he's a drug._

_And I'm addicted._


	13. Tough Love

**Tough Love**

"Oh. Em. GEE."

_God, when did I become so generous?_ I thought in regret. Going to Italy, we all finally came to an agreement that all four of us would go. Sure, no one would watch the house- but I honestly didn't mind much, considering we'd be relocating back to the Manor sometime soon anyways. For all I cared, the Doppelganger could go set that one on fire. But, unfortunately, I hadn't even begun to foresee how much of a nit-picker Angela could be.

"Is it usually this hot in Italy? Like, seriously? How are you guys not dying of heat?" Angela complained while fanning herself off with her hand, even though we were settling in the shade of a large tent with all of Zip's technical equipment. From the second we left London, she'd whined over about a total of 20 or more things, repeatedly. And to think all people wondered why I, the "daughter of the famous Richard Croft", didn't have any children. To _think_.

I was about to pound my own brains out when Angela asked "Do you have any water?" for about the hundredth bloody time. Even worse, she'd settled to finding a small can of beer instead, to which she had no hesitation with drinking to her leisure. And that really ticked me off.

Halting in my help of setting up the devices, I got up and took the can right out of her hands before she could even take a sip. I nearly slammed it on the small, plastic table beside me. "Angela, do you have even the slightest remembrance of what happened to you the other night?"

She looked at me innocently, not knowing how to respond.

I narrowed my eyes on her. "Well, to refresh your memory, you were _shot_. With a _bullet_. And you were sent to the _hospital_. Do you have any idea how much damage alcohol can do to you?"

Angela rolled her eyes.

That did it.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me! This is _serious_, Angela, I don't want you to go anywhere near anything that can do harm to you, is that clear?"

Finally, she responded. "Okay okay, got it, _mom_. Jeez." Angela said, in a bit of a teasing way, as she slightly scoffed a giggle at my strict flare-up on her. I just shook my head and ignored her. Instead I headed back to Zip and Kurtis, who seemed to have not made much notice of Angela's actions. _Five years_, I thought. _Only a five year difference, and yet, somehow, she's still considered an adult. How could that possibly be?_

"Was she really that bloody annoying when she was a child? How the hell do you deal with her?" I said angrily to Kurtis, in a somewhat hushed voice so Angela wouldn't hear. He looked at me a bit confused, then he sighed.

"Lara, you've never had younger siblings. You wouldn't understand." He said simply, then continued on with what he was doing. I glared at his turned head dully for another moment. _I wouldn't understand, huh? Brilliant. Just brilliant._ Everyone was just getting on my nerves. At first, I really did enjoy Angela's company. And maybe I enjoyed Kurtis's company as well, however, I'd enjoyed it a little bit _too_ much. But now Angela was just about the last person I wanted to be around, and with Kurtis it was the same situation. Angela was a brat, and Kurtis was...well. He was Kurtis. Even Zip had begun to talk to me less and less like the friend I knew him to be. _What on Earth is happening?_

After about another thirty minutes of setting up, getting ready, and finding the location of the factory, or whatever it was, I finally decided that I somehow couldn't trust Zip to be the one to take care that Angela stayed out of trouble.

"Kurtis, I need you to stay here with Zip. Angela's coming with me."

There were then a few disapproving outbursts of "What?" in response from each one of them.

"I'm sorry, Zip, but you must admit, neither you or Angela are exactly the most reliable ones here." I explained. "And besides, if Kurtis came with me, then you two wouldn't have anything to defend yourselves with."

"Wha-? Are you sayin' I don't know how to handle a gun? Hell, I don't need no guard dog, Lara. I can take care of myself." Zip exclaimed, clearly insulted. He was right, though- he was actually quite a tough, strong fighter. But that didn't make a difference.

"Hey, _watch it_." Kurtis retorted fiercely in Zip's use of the term "guard dog" towards him.

"No offense, man." Zip apologized calmly, then turned his attention back to me. "Seriously. Let him go, I'll make sure nothin' happens to Ang. What are the chances of gettin' into trouble out here anyway?"

"That...that's not the point." I started, but was cut off again by Zip.

"Besides, it'd make more sense if Kurtis came with you, right? You could use some brute force to back you up."

I clenched my jaw tightly and pursed my lips. _Brute force. Really. So I'll just sit like a duck and play damsel in distress, then, if you call _him _the brute force._

"Fine then. Angela stays." I unwillingly agreed, through a dramatically fake smile.

_**-x-**_

Considering that the streets and canals of Venice were quite lively and bustling with people, and our meeting with Callegar was to be supposedly on mutual grounds, we didn't take any gear. The only thing we brought was the PDA phone, which I always had with me.

As we were walking through the narrow streets, Kurtis started up a conversation. "Hey, are you, um, okay? You seem a little angry."

_Oh, do shut up_, I thought. "I'm perfectly fine. I'd be even better if you could keep the dialogue to a minimum, thank you very much." I said crossly.

"Yeah, that tone of voice _definitely_ sounds 'perfectly fine'." Kurtis muttered sarcastically. I then stopped abruptly in my steps, grabbed Kurtis by the neck of his shirt, and pulled him into the short alleyway between two stores.

"Listen up, Kurtis. I've been dealing with enough bull for one day, and I don't need more of it from _you_." I said, a bit threateningly. Then I lowered my voice a bit, though still staying intense. "You don't just go around romancing women with those gazing eyes of yours one day, and then act like a complete douche the next. That's just not how it works. And if you want me to continue giving you, _and_ your sister, the respect and generosity that I've already lent out far too much of, then I suggest you _cut it out_."

I waited another brief moment to let it sink in, then let go of him and stepped back out of the alley. To my dismay, he had absolutely nothing to come back with. Not a single word. We walked the rest of the way in silence.

I was actually a bit surprised at how agitated I was of his presence, now. Regularly, I wouldn't even be able to speak normally around him. Regularly, I wouldn't be able to do _anything_normally around him. Probably because of all that...mush and soft feelings and whatnot, that he'd just thrown onto me.

I couldn't believe I'd just let myself fall head over heels like some dim-witted teenage schoolgirl. By restraining myself to go any further, I started to think that I was slowly regaining that old, tough-as-nails attitude I used to maintain. Not caring about anyone or anything, but what I needed to do. None of this goddamned gentleness I've come to have. And that's the way I liked it.

So, in my head, I came to an agreement with myself:

_Kurtis means nothing to you_.


	14. So, about new chapters and stories

**AUGUST 15TH 2013**

Yeah, so, as you can see...I still haven't updated Tempus Fugit. I'm so sorry, guys. Honestly I just really haven't had the incentive to do it, but I really do want to finish it and I hope some people are still reading it.

I've decided for now to move on to writing a new story, a Mass Effect fan fiction, not only because I've wanted to for the longest time, but also I figured if I had all these ideas running through my head and I got some practice done, I would have an easier time continuing Tempus Fugit. I feel like now is the perfect time for me to sit down and get some writing done, it's the end of the summer, when the school year starts it'll be really slow, so I can use that time to write, and I swear my first priority will be Tempus Fugit.

I _really_ do hope I can start updating it soon, I miss reading reviews and messaging you guys and writing altogether.

I know this must be _SOOOO so annoying_ to keep having these updates instead of a chapter, most people probably have given up on reading at least my current stories, but I completely understand.

Again, **I'm really sorry guys**. I'm trying! But writer's block on top of a now very busy and crazy life preparing for the end of my high school career is a big roadblock for creative hobbies. I will post my Mass Effect fan fiction, and perhaps, with luck, I will finally be able to finish that chapter of Tempus Fugit that has been sitting in the dark space of my computer for so long...

Wish me luck, guys, and my biggest apologies for being on about the longest hiatus known to mankind. I really appreciate those of you who have read my stories in the past, and especially those of you who continue to check back in when I post these updates. You're awesome.

**Lots of love, Alice.**


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